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ELL'S LITERATURE SERIES, No. 185. 25 CENTS 



EDELWEISS 



SPIRITISM 



BY 

EDELWEISS 



NEW YORK 
UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY 

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JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 

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ied Weekly. Annual Subscription, $15.00. July 24, 1891. (Extra.) 



No, j 85.. 



LOVELL'S LITERATURE SERIES. 

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64 Goethe and Miscellaneous Essays. 

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66 Corn Law Rhymes and Other 

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67 Signs of the Time. By Carlyle. . 

68 Dr. Francia and other Essays. 

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70 Voltaire and Novalis. Carlyle. . . 

71 Light of Asia. Edwin Arnold.. . 

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74 Lays of Ancient Rome. By T. 

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75 Bryant's Poems. By Bryant 

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78 Dante's Vision of Hell, Purga- 

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80 Life of Washington. By Henley 

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98 Tale of a Traveler. By Irving. 

99 Baillie the Covenanter. Carlyle 

100 Emerson's Essays. Vol. II 

101 The Bride of Lammermoor. By 

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102 Hyperion. By Longfellow 

103 Outre Mer. By Longfellow 



SPIRITISM 



SPIRITISM 



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BY 

EDELWEISS 



j? 




NEW YORK 
UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY 

SUCCESSOR TO 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 

150 WORTH ST., COR. MISSION FLACE 



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*r 



Copyright, 1891 

by 

UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY. 



A II Rights Reserved. 



SPIRITISM. 



CHAPTER I. 

MY FIRST THOUGHTS ON TABLE-TURNING AND 
SPIRITISM. 

In my youth a novel amusement was in- 
troduced into Sweden called table-turning. 
In answer to my inquiries as to what this 
might be I was told that it was something new 
and remarkable which had been first dis- 
covered in America, where it had created a 
great, sensation, had then been brought to 
England, France, and Germany, and finally 
gained a footing in Sweden. 

I next asked why it was called " table-turn- 
ing." I was then told that when several 
people were seated round a table forming a 
chain by holding each other's hands, and 



6 SPIRITISM. 

allowing them to rest on it, the table after a 
longer or shorter interval began to move of 
itself. 

" Is it to be wondered at," I asked, " that a 
table should move when so many hands are 
pushing it ? " 

But then I was told that before the chain 
was formed, each person promised that he 
would not push the table in the least, or in 
any way attempt to move it from its place. 

" If all faithfully kept their promise," I 
replied, " the table would certainly remain 
where it was." 

That this was not the case, I was assured. 
On the contrary, when a circle had been 
formed round the table of perfectly reliable 
persons, their hands resting on it so lightly as 
hardly to touch it, the table, in spite of every 
one conscientiously keeping their promise, 
would begin to move of itself, to creak, turn, 
sway gently backwards and forwards along 
the floor, and finally very often dance about 
at a rapid pace. 

My answer to this assertion was that I 



SPIRITISM. 7 

must have proofs in order to be convinced and 
that it would interest me greatly to be present 
at an experiment like the one described. 

Accordingly a suitable table was chosen, 
around which we formed a circle, I feeling 
perfectly sure beforehand, that nothing extra- 
ordinary would happen. I was right that 
time and on several successive occasions when 
I, together with others, attempted to make 
tables, keys, or hats, " dance." 

It seemed to me simply impossible, that 
inanimate objects would be endowed with a 
life and volition of their own. 

Once I asked what was supposed to cause 
independent motion in inanimate objects. 

Great was my amazement when I was told 
that the table was not believed to move of 
itself, but was supposed to be under the con- 
trol of spirits. This appeared to me in- 
credible, for surely we should be able to see 
them. Besides, how could they possibly pass 
through locked doors and closed windows ? 
No, this was altogether too preposterous ! 

Soon after this occurred I heard my par- 



8 SPIRITISM. 

ents speaking about table-turning, etc. My 
mother asked my father what his ideas were 
on the subject. My father, an eminent man 
of science, replied that in his opinion, the 
great sensation excited by the phenomena to 
which we alluded, had been much exaggerated, 
as no doubt such phenomena could in them- 
selves be easily and naturally explained ; peo- 
ple however were fond of exaggeration, and 
frequently let their imagination get the upper 
hand, so that what was in itself perfectly nat- 
ural, often assumed supernatural proportions. 

For instance, if an ignorant crowd were to 
see a long, thick beam in lively motion, with- 
out any, to them, visible cause, they would 
easily think it was bewitched and that some 
supernatural agency was at work, whereas the 
explanation was perfectly simple. 

All that was required was to insert into 
one end of a beam placed on two trestles, a 
fine glass tube, of which about five inches 
protruded, and then, with a violin bow, play 
continuously on the tube. At first a slight 
vibration would be perceptible, and this 



SPIRITISM. 9 

gradually increasing, would at last give the 
whole beam the appearance of dancing and 
jumping about. 

With regard to table-turning, my father 
thought it probable that a similar almost 
imperceptible vibration might arise, commu- 
nicating itself from hand to hand, partly from 
the gradual increase of muscular fatigue, 
partly from the excitement which the people 
formfng the circle would experience during 
a period of longer or shorter waiting. As 
soon as the vibration had once arisen, it would 
go on increasing imperceptibly, until the 
table at last would spin round the room with 
ever increasing velocity. 

I remember even now what a lively impres- 
sion this explanation made upon me. From 
that time table-turning lost all interest in my 
eyes. 







The next time that my curiosity was 



10 SPIRITISM. 

aroused on this subject was during a visit to 
England ; where a celebrated " medium " was 
creating a great sensation. ' 

My mother had been invited to attend a 
seance at a friend's house. This friend was 
deeply interested in the spiritistic movement. 
My mother related to me afterwards what had 
occurred during the evening. 

The company were assembled in a partial- 
ly darkened room. The seance commenced 
with a prayer for protection against evil 
spirits. After waiting a little time, slight 
creakings and knockings were audible, the 
" initiated " understood by the latter, that 
four candles were to be lighted. This, and 
a few more equally uninteresting trivialities, 
was all that happened that night, except that 
a promise was given that the spirits would 
return another time. 

Besides, Henry IV. and Louis XIV. prom- 
ised to come and relate some interesting 
things the following evening. 

■ On hearing my mother's account, a strong 
feeling of repulsion to spiritism came over 



SPIRITISM. 1 1 

me. It seemed to me that if spirits could 
appear to mankind, they ought to use this 
power for a higher purpose than merely to 
talk about the most trivial things, or to 
relate stories which were evidently more of an 
amusing than instructive nature. I seriously 
doubted the possibility of such an unprofit- 
able and paltry connection existing between 
the spiritual world and our own. 

Surely, I thought, if God actually per- 
mitted such an intercourse, it would only be 
in order to give mankind an opportunity of 
receiving communications of the most sacred 
and spiritual nature. 

Once more I lost all interest in so-called 
spiritism. 






Several years afterwards I was in Sweden 
and chanced to meet in society a person who 
was an ardent spiritist. 

No new experience had caused me to 



I2 SPIRITISM. 

change my opinion on a subject which I still 
considered so utterly trivial, and I continued 
to wonder how one could regard as super- 
natural what to me seemed so worthless. 
Happening, however, to fall into conversation 
with the spiritist above mentioned, I asked 
him to explain to me what it was he actually 
believed in. 

Then for the first time I heard that in order 
to facilitate communication with the spiritual 
world a so-called "planchette " had been in- 
vented. He explained its functions to me 
and told me that he frequently received very 
striking answers to questions he had addressed 
to it. I begged for an example and he went 
on to tell me that he lived in the country, and 
was in the habit of consulting the psycho- 
graph on all sorts of every day matters. 

To give you an instance he said : a few 
weeks ago when I was at home a cow was to 
be slaughtered. We rather wanted to wait a 
week longer, but feared that a thaw might set 
in. We wished therefore to have our doubts 
settled, and accordingly consulted the psy- 






SPIRITISM. 13 

chograph : "slaughter the cow," was the an- 
swer, " it will thaw in a week." And so it did ! 
Does not this prove the inestimable value of 
the psychograph and the truth of spiritism ? 
All this made a very painful impression upon 
me. The psychograph had certainly proph- 
esied right, but could it be possible that voices 
from the other side of the grave, would let 
themselves be heard merely in order to answer 
questions of purely earthly import ? 

Once more so-called spiritism seemed to 
me too petty to awaken any responsive chords. 






Several years now passed without my hear- 
ing anything further about spiritism, then, 
however, I got to know a little more about the 
subject from a person who was very dear 
to me, and for whom I entertained the great- 
est reverence. During a sojourn in London 
he had become warmly interested in spiritism, 
having been present at several remarkable 



I 4 SPIRITISM. 

seances, one of which seemed to have been 
particularly wonderful. My friend related 
to me how he had met at the house of a 

Mrs. , a general's wife, a select circle of 

spiritists. When these persons, for whom 
he felt unbounded confidence, had assembled, 
the usual chain was formed. Daniel Home, 
the renowned medium, was present on this 
occasion. Suddenly a loud rapping was 
heard right up in the cornice, and light, rapid 
knocks. There was such a commotion that 
everybody heard it distinctly, and wondered 
if something very interesting was not going 
to happen. Very soon some gentle raps were 
heard in the table. Those who understood 
their significance, explained that the spirits 
wished all the lights to be put out, and the 
window opened a little, just a little, so that a 
present to Daniel (Home) might be brought in. 
The surprise of the company can be easily im- 
agined. This request was complied with, and 
after an interval of anxious waiting, my friend 
said, a sort of exultant sound like contented 
childish laughter was heard around the walls 



SPIRITISM. 15 

and cornices, accompanied by a joyous knock- 
ing, whilst the table rapped out in the usual 
spiritist fashion the following sentence : " Mrs. 

has got a present which is intended 

for Daniel." " No, no," she exclaimed, " I 
haven't anything ! " 

" A continued rapping indicated, however, 
that the present was lying in her lap. Mrs. 

then tried to feel with her hands, as the 

room was still dark, but in vain ; she could find 
nothing but a bead which must have dropt 
from the trimming of her dress. 

" Light the candles and look ! " was next 
rapped out. 

When the lights were lit, it was discovered 

that what Mrs. had believed to be a black 

glass bead proved to be a remarkably beau- 
tiful oriental pearl. The sensation which 
this created can be easily imagined ! " What 
shall I do witK it ? " Home asked. " You 
shall put it in a cage," was the answer 
rapped out. 

No one understood what was meant by 
this, till it struck my friend, that as the pearl 



1 6 SPIRITISM. 

was of such unusual beauty, it was perhaps 
considered a pity to bore a hole in it, and 
therefore it was to be enclosed in a delicate 
-network of gold to which a pin could be 
attached, so as to make it fit for use. 

When he had suggested this, he assured 
me that a sort of exultant noise was audible 
all round the room, which proceeded in his 
opinion from invisible spirits, who were re- 
joicing that their meaning had been rightly 
interpreted. 

Of course I did not for a moment doubt 
that my friend, whose integrity was above 
suspicion, had related everything exactly as it 
had happened, but any true conviction his ac- 
count failed to awaken in me. I told him with 
a smile that I had long wished to possess a 
beautiful pearl necklace, and now if I could 
become a spiritist, a splendid opportunity 
might offer itself to gratifying my desire. 
At this he gently shook his fine, venerable 
head, and with a kindly smile answered : 
" You don't understand this subject yet, my 
child, and it is not easy either to explain 



SPIRITISM. 17 

or to understand ; but if you had seen and 
heard what I have, you would have been 
differently impressed. The gift of the pearl 
was simply a phenomenon which took place 
in order to show us how the spiritual world 
can rule the material, and use it in its 
service. This is a visible result, which I 
regard as nothing compared to the spiritual 
results which I have seen produced through 
the power of spiritism. Your time has not 
yet come, my beloved child, but if I under- 
stand you rightly, I foresee that the day will 
come, when your mind will be sufficiently 
matured to enable you to understand the 
higher revelations from the spiritual world 
and their deep significance." 

I then asked my friend if spiritism had in 
any way been a blessing to him, and he told 
me that through it, light had been thrown 
upon questions which hitherto had appeared 
to him simply inexplicable. He had never 
been able to understand the doctrine of the 
Trinity ; he had doubted the divinity of Christ, 



^ SPIRITISM. 

and the revelation of the Holy Spirit had 
been to him an unsolved enigma. 

" Well," I said, " has spiritism converted 
you ? Are you now a believer in the divinity 
of Christ, and no longer a Unitarian ? " 
" Yes," he answered, " thanks to the enlight- 
enment I have received from good and holy 
spirits, I now believe in Christ as being the 
only begotten Son of God, though revealed 
on earth as the Son of man. I believe, there- 
fore, in His divinity, I believe in his own 
word and assurance, and if spiritism had 
brought me no other blessing than this belief, 
it would be sufficient to convince me of its 
inestimable value." 

" My beloved^ and revered - friend," I an- 
swered, " it seems to me so strange that 
through raps and drawings, often badly exe- 
cuted (for he had shown me such done by 
mediums ), you should have become con- 
vinced of what the Bible tells us in such very 
plain words. Spiritism is not a necessity to 
me. When we believe in the Bible, we get 
all the knowledge in spiritual matters that is 



SPIRITISM. fg 

needful." " My child," he replied, " it is a 
great blessing to have such entire faith, and 
although I feel sure that it suffices for you, 
still it would not surprise me if the day should 
come, when you will appreciate the blessing 
of being able to hold intercourse with, and 
receive instruction from, the invisible spirits 
who are ever around us." 

I did not understand what he meant, and 
had not in reality the slightest conception of 
the privileges to which his spirit had attained. 
Spiritism, as I understood it, still appeared to 
me either a detestible humbug, or the delusion 
of an excited imagination. 






Hitherto I had never myself had an oppor- 
tunity of witnessing any of the so-called 
spiritist manifestations. It happened, how- 
ever, that some years after the conversation 
above recorded, I chanced to meet a person 
whom I had not seen for a long time, and for 



20 SPIRITISM. 

whom I entertained the highest regard, as 
well as the greatest admiration for his many 
and varied noble qualities. He was in fact 
one of the most gifted men among the many 
eminent persons it had been my good fortune 
to meet in the course of my life. It is easy 
to understand, therefore, how surprised I was 
to hear him say during a conversation, that 
he had received undeniable proofs of the truth 
of so-called spiritism. My amazement was 
so great, that I could not resist telling him 
how wonderful it seemed to me, that such an 
intelligent and gifted person as he was, could 
really believe in table-turning, spirit rapping 
and so on. He answered quite gravely, how- 
ever : " If you had seen what I have, even you 
would believe. I cannot yet explain how these 
phenomena arise, but deny them I cannot." 
I entreated that we might at once try and get 
a table to move. It would be curious to see 
how far the experiment would succeed, if I 
were one of those who formed the chain, for 
a greater unbeliever than I was, it would be 
difficult to imagine. As my wish was kindly 



SPIRITISM. 21 

complied with, a table was selected. The legs 
of this table ended like claws which hooked 
into the carpet, besides which it was so heavy 
that it was almost impossible for me to move it 
from its place, much less to get it to spin round. 
There were five of us who formed a chain 
round this table, and we all promised on our 
word of honor not to " cheat " or " humbug." 

We were all equally interested in seeing 
if anything supernatural would take place. 
About half an hour passed without the slight- 
est sound or motion being perceptible, and I 
took it for granted, that if we were to sit there 
till doomsday nothing would happen. Sud- 
denly we all looked up ; we had heard a pecul- 
iar creaking sound, and were convinced that 
one of us had involuntarily occasioned it. 
Great was our satisfaction, when each in turn 
protested, upon his honor, that he had not 
moved in the least, and that it must have been 
the table itself. My friend, who was the 
most experienced, declared that it was a sign 
that the table would soon move. I was sit- 
ting next to him, and in a little while I saw, 



2 2 SPIRITISM. 



quite distinctly, something that looked like 
a breath stirring the surface of the table, 
as if light billows were ruffling the exterior of 
the mahogany. Deeply interested I asked 
my neighbor if he had seen anything? 
" Yes," he replied : " Did you see what looked 
like a breath flying over the table and gently 
ruffling the surface." " Yes," he answered 
again. " Upon your honor ? " " Upon my 
honor ; besides," he added, " I have seen this 
before ; it is a sign that the table will soon 
move ; let us be patient and wait ; we can 
talk in the meantime." 

We began conversing on different topics, 
but every time we mentioned the name of a 
certain person who was absent, the table 
creaked in a peculiar way which, thinking the 
matter over long afterwards, I thought very 
remarkable and significant. Very soon the 
table began to move in a singular fashion. 
It turned slowly round as if it were not 
touching the ground, stopped, and then moved . 
again in a little while. After we had gone 
on about an hour, my friend thought we ought 



SPIRITISM. 23 

to stop, as the exertion might be too much 
for some of us. He asked me how I had been 
impressed by what had happened. It was 
impossible for me to doubt that something 
very strange and unusual had taken place, 
but my father's explanation, many years ago, 
recurred to my mind. The table had cer- 
tainly moved, but not, as I believed, through 
supernatural agency. 

" Ah," replied the friend who had often 
solved many a deep problem for me, "what 
we are so ready to call * supernatural,' we 
really ought only to call ' unexplained.' We 
do not yet possess the key to this mystery 
which is nevertheless an indisputable reality." 

My mind, however, was not at that time 
sufficiently enlightened or matured, to be able 
to ponder deeply on these matters, and soon 
this new experience was quite obliterated 
from my memory. 





24 SPIRITISM. 

Not long afterwards something occurred 
which I cannot help thinking was very 
remarkable. It happened as follows : At 
a large party, consisting for the greater part 
of young people, a psychograph had been 
brought out for our amusement. I had never 
seen one before, and was greatly surprised 
when, in answer to my question as to what 
was the use of it, I was told that when guided 
by two people it answered automatically the 
questions addressed to it. 

For the benefit of those who have never 
seen a psychograph, I will here mention 
that it usually consists of a piece of wood, 
covered with a paper, upon which are printed 
all the letters of the alphabet as well as 
ciphers and punctuation. Above this piece 
of wood is a smaller one resting on a little 
movable support, on one side of which is a 
kind of needle. The psychograph is placed 
on a table : two people then seat themselves 
one on either side, each laying a hand on the 
movable board. The phenomenon consists 
in the needle, without any conscious guidance 



SPIRITISM. 25 

on their part, pointing from letter to letter 
until words and sentences are formed. 

Those who preside over the psychograph, 
can talk or think of anything they like, and 
the needle will fly just as surely from letter 
to letter. The best plan is for a third person 
to stand by, and note down, word by word, 
sentence by sentence, as sometimes all sorts 
of different questions are answered in an 
astonishing manner. Occasionally informa- 
tion is given to persons present, regarding 
things only known and understood by those 
to whom the psychograph is addressing itself. 
On this occasion it was some little time be- 
fore anyone could think of a question. At 
last a lady proposed the following : " Who will 
illuminate St. Petersburg, the Emperor or 
the Nihilists ? " I must here explain that 
just at this time there had been much talk 
about a fete which was to be celebrated in St. 
Petersburg, with illuminations, and great 
excitement prevailed, as it was feared that 
serious disorders on the part of the Nihilists 
would take place, and that they would even 



26 SPIRITISM. 

set the Russian capital on fire. This question 
was so painful to me that I was just on the 
point of protesting against it, when I saw the 
psychograph was already in motion. The 
answer was : " How can you so thought- 
lessly ask such a serious question ? Remember 
that the weal or woe of a whole nation depends 
upon the answer." This reply seemed to 
me very satisfactory, on account of the grave 
reproach it implied. For the moment it made 
a deep impression upon me. 

The conversation now became general, 
and no one could agree about a question. 
All were perplexed, and at last I was asked 
. to decide upon one. 

As I looked at all the bright young faces 
about me, it struck me that it would interest 
the young people most if I were to- ask 
which of them would be first engaged. I 
need hardly say that my proposal was re- 
ceived with acclamations ! The psychograph 
presided over by two persons, instantly re- 
plied : " the young girl of twenty." A babel 
of questions now arose amongst the girls, 



SPIRITISM. 27 

accompanied by exclamations of " it is not 
I ! " " It is not I ! " "lam twenty-one ! " "I 
am twenty-three ! " " I am nineteen ! " And 
so on, and so on. At last one of them ex- 
claimed : " It would really be too ridiculous 
if I were the only one who were twenty. Just 
think again, all of you." But in spite of 
thinking and reckoning the result remained 
the same ; she was the only one who was 
exactly twenty years of age. The next ques- 
tion proposed was which of the gentlemen 
would be first engaged. The psychograph 
instantly gave the name of a person whom 
we will call O. N. Deeply interested, he asked 
" How soon ! " " Before the month of May this 
year," the, psychograph replied. — We were 
now in the beginning of March. There was 
no reason to suppose, at that time, that either 
one or other of these two people would get 
engaged, and no one, not even they them- 
selves, ever thought of their getting engaged 
to each other. We therefore looked upon 
the whole thing as a joke. 

In course of time, however, this prophecy 



28 SPIRITISM. 

was recalled to my mind ; for it happened 
that amongst all who were present on that 
occasion, just those two young people had 
become engaged to each other, and the en- 
gagement was announced on the 26th of April 
of the same year. Well, I thought it was 
strange, but this incident failed to convince 
me, nevertheless, that spirits could make 
themselves perceptible, or foretell future 
events. Very soon this new experience 
faded from my mind. 






Several months afterwards, I chanced to 
meet a friend who happened to say a few 
words about table-turning and spirit-rapping, 
but such manifestations still appeared to me 
as incredible. 

We certainly succeeded a couple of times 
in making a little table move, and I even 
heard some light raps, but took it for granted 



SPIRITISM. 29 

that the movement of the table, as well as 
the raps, were unconsciously caused by our- 
selves. He must also have casually mentioned 
to me the possibility of writing unconsciously, 
for I remember, after he had gone, my tak- 
ing a pencil and holding it lightly over a 
sheet of paper, so as to see if I could feel any 
influence that would make me write without 
myself having an idea of what I was doing. 
Mechanically I drew several lines of con- 
secutive ms on the paper. Whilst doing 
this, my thoughts were engaged on some- 
thing quite different, and I remember now 
how vexed I was when I discovered what 
rubbish I had been unconsciously writing. 
Still I wondered a little, how it had been 
possible to have written those lines so very 
unconsciously. " Well ! " I said to myself 
a little surprised, " it went just as by it- 
self." 

Significant words, which long afterwards 
were made plain to me! I soon forgot all 
about the attempt with the table, or that I 
had ever heard of such a thing as being able 



30 SPIRITISM. 

to write under the guidance of supernatural 
powers. 

After all these accounts and experiences, I 
remained just as incredulous as before. That 
so-called inanimate things could become ani- 
mate, seemed to me impossible ; that spirits 
could make themselves perceptible seemed to 
me also impossible; and yet I believed, in a 
vague sort of way, that angels could be near 
us and surround us with their love. The 
thought that a beloved mother could, from 
another sphere, watch over her child on earth, 
seemed to me beautiful, and not at all incred- 
ible. Neither did I ever doubt the truth of 
the Bible narratives, which relate how angels 
held communion with man, or how the proph- 
ets received inspiration from above. I re- 
garded all these as sacred truths, but I could 
never believe that the spiritual world would 
manifest itself in such a material fashion as 
the spiritists talked about. 

Thus, although I was firmly convinced of 
the veracity of the sacred writings, I never- 
theless could not bring myself to attach any 



SPIRITISM. 3I 

importance to such manifestations as table- 
turning, spirit-rapping, or the ability of 
" mediums " to interpret spiritual suggestions 
by means of a psychograph.. Neither could I 
imagine such materialization to be true as 
was described in the story about the pearl 
which was intended as a present for Home. 

That I had myself seen a table move, and 
even heard it rap in an unmistakably signifi- 
cant fashion, did not impress me as being 
sufficiently convincing. Even that my own 
hand had mechanically drawn the most un- 
meaning strokes seemed to me perfectly nat- 
ural, although I had certainly never before 
allowed it to act so very independently of my 
own thoughts. 

The secret why I refused to attach any im- 
portance to what I had seen and heard lay 
simply in these few words : I would not believe. 

And why not ? Because if these proofs were 
convincing, they would, to my mind, lower the 
spiritual world, which I regarded as so infi- 
nitely above our own, to the same level of 
earthly manifestations. 



32 SPIRITISM. 

Could spirits, released from mortal clay, 
and free to rove in infinite space, renounce 
these advantages, and condescend to occupa- 
tions, which even for ordinary mortals were 
sufficiently commonplace ? No ! it was im- 
possible ! 

Besides which, across my mind gleamed 
the remembrance of theological doctrines, 
according to which the soul is fettered to the 
grave until doomsday. 

I had never dared to hope that if we faith- 
fully follow Christ, even unto the verge of 
the grave, we might perhaps with Him also be 
speedily released from its fetters, and enter 
into some new and spiritualized sphere of 
life. Death, to my idea, erected an impene- 
trable wall which it was impossible to over- 
throw, until it finally must fall at the sound 
of the trumpets on the last day ; till then the 
dead slept in peace in their graves. Such 
was my belief. 

Here ends my experience in Spiritism. 



SPIRITISM. 



SECOND CHAPTER. 

SPIRITUALISM. 

Reader, did you ever happen, when travel- 
ling abroad, in the midst of some beautiful 
scenery, to come suddenly across a footpath 
which seemed to lead to the summit of a lovely 
hill, studded here and there with small chapels 
or sanctuaries ? * The path is often bordered 
with beautiful foliage and fragrant flowers. 
You feel a longing desire to follow it, to see 
where it leads to; you want to know why these 
little sanctuaries, outwardly often so beautiful, 
have been erected there. What can they 
contain ? They are so small, they don't seem 
as if they could be of much use, and yet sel- 
dom does a wayfarer pass by without pausing 

* In Austria especially are to be found these kind of places of pil- 
grimage. There they are called " Kalvarienberge." 

3 



34 SF1R1TISM. 

before them in silent devotion. The end of 
the path is hidden from view, but you feel 
sure that it does not end until it has led you 
to the top of the hill or mountain. 

These tiny sanctuaries, standing at regular 
intervals, represent the sixteen so called " sta- 
tions on the road to the Cross." 

In each sanctuary there is depicted some 
of the bitter sufferings our Saviour endured on 
his road from the garden of Gethsemane, to 
the heights of Golgotha. 

Let me tell you at once, that no one (figur- 
atively speaking) escapes ascending that path, 
which leads us finally to the Golgothas which 
await us all. 

The wayfarer who beholds this footpath 
even from afar off, feels a strange desire to 
tread it. A similar yearning often takes 
possession of the human soul, when first it 
sees the path which it believes will lead it 
quickest to God. Even the " Via Dolorosa" 
itself has a spiritual fascination of its own, 
for it also offers flowers, shade and places of 
rest. It is narrow, but it leads ever upwards, 



SPIRITISM. 35 

and between each halting place of new suffer- 
ing, the bold spirit obtains purer air, and a 
grander, more extensive view. 

All that man has suffered and experienced 
outside this region seems comparatively 
insignificant. There, where Gethsemane com- 
mences, does he first enter upon that stage 
of existence, when ordinary views of life 
do not longer satisfy him. Commonplace 
people, his former friends and acquaintances, 
here generally draw back, saying : If you 
tread that laborious path, we will remain out- 
side and rest. The poor human soul which 
is to be guided upwards, turns then, over- 
powered by agony, filled with forebodings of 
keenest suffering, to its friends, and pleads 
entreatingly : " Do not forsake me ! follow 
me at least with your prayers ! " But the 
friends do not understand; well intentioned 
though they be, they allow themselves to be 
weighed down by the spirit of indifference, 
which gradually lulls them to sleep. In the 
meantime the struggling, agonized soul sinks 
down in prayer before the first sanctuary, 



36 SPIRITISM. 

which encloses a picture of the garden of 
Gethsemane. 

Let us now imagine some one who, wishing 
faithfully to follow in the footsteps of Christ, 
is confined within the region of Gethsemane, 
separated from the whole world, deserted by 
his most devoted friends, awaiting like our 
Saviour the most awful trials, stunned, like 
Him, with anguish and suffering. 

Now, is it impossible to believe that God 
could send down spirits to strengthen him also 
in the sore conflict, and to administer to him 
words of comfort, solace and encourage- 
ment ? I do think I can affirm without hesita- 
tion, that no one can be spiritually born again; 
that no one can be freed from the bonds of 
matter, who has not, with faith and submission, 
traversed the short but thorny road which 
leads from Gethsemane to Golgotha. 





Let me now resume the thread of my 



SPIRITISM. ^ 

narrative by saying, that some years after 
the occurrences described in the preceding 
chapter, I found myself within the region 
we just now called Gethsemane. In plain 
words, a great and crushing sorrow had 
befallen me, and I was separated from my near- 
est relatives as well as from my friends. 

I was in a foreign country on account of 
failing health, alone, without support or com- 
fort, feeling my strength giving way beneath a 
sudden trial, which under the circumstances 
seemed greater than I could bear. During this 
time my only consolation lay in the oppor- 
tunity afforded me, to be of some little service 
to a person who was poor in addition, just as 
solitary and quite unprotected. He was a 
young student who had been thrown out 
into the world's busy throng. Every day he 
used to come for a couple of hours and seek 
comfort, encouragement and peace in my 
temporary home. I did not know that he 
was a so-called " medium," in fact I hardly 
knew what the word meant. 

He was at my house the same evening 



38 SPIRITISM. 

when that great trouble had befallen me. 
Little did he guess what was passing within 
me. We sat talking about all sorts of every- 
day subjects, whilst all the time I felt as if my 
heart would break. I seemed to hear a voice 
within me crying out in anguish : " It is 
too much ! My sorrow is greater than I can 
bear ! " 

When the mind is deeply afflicted, the 
nerves are generally in a state of tension, 
which renders any sound or noise almost 
insupportable. I was just in that state and 
was feeling quite tortured by a sudden 
hammering which seemed as if it came from 
the story beneath, but was heard most 
distinctly just near the place where we were 
sitting. The knocking became at last so 
annoying that I said to my young friend : 
" When one feels as ill as I do now, it seems 
almost cruel to be disturbed in this way by 
such persistent noise." 

He looked a little surprised, and had even 
a strange expression in his face when he an- 
swered : " Let us hope it will soon leave off." 



SPIRITISM. 39 

But this was not the case ; on the contrary 
the noise increased, till at last it knocked, as 
it were, in a circle around us, and then I began 
irresistibly to realize that something strange 
was happening. I heard the knocking some- 
times quite close to the young man, then 
again just opposite to him at a distance of 
fully three yards, now beside me, now in front 
of me — it was astounding ! But then all of 
a sudden it seemed to dawn upon me that 
here was something which was especially 
intended for me. Each knock seemed to 
quiver with some inner meaning, to be inspired 
with a soul ! 

A flash seemed to strike my brain, my 
heart! Almost without hesitation I asked 
the young man : " Are these spirits who are 
knocking like this ? " He nodded. " Then," 
I exclaimed, " I know who it is." And I men- 
tioned the name of a dear deceased friend. 

" Shall I ask ? " he said. " Can one ask ? " 
I questioned. " Yes," he answered ; " one 
knock means no, three means yes, and two 
means neither yes or no, the answer remaining 



4 o SPIRITISM. 

undecided." He then asked aloud : " Are you 
the person who was mentioned ? " Three 
loud, distinct knocks were audible in the floor 
at a good distance from where he sat. It 
was sufficient, for I had felt the presence of the 
person in question, and knew for a certainty 
it was he, and that he wished to speak to me. 
My young friend now remarked that perhaps 
this person wished to communicate with us 
in writing. This exceeded all that I could 
have believed possible. " Can spirits write ? " 
I asked. " Yes," was the answer, " through 
a medium." " But how can we get one ? " 
I asked again. " I am a medium," he replied 
with a smile. " But how can it be done ? " 
was my next question. " In this way," he 
answered; "we shall put some sheets of paper 
upon the table, and I shall take a pencil in 
my hand and let it rest on the paper. If the 
spirit wishes to communicate with us, my 
hand will then be guided so that letters and 
words are formed, without my being conscious 
of it." 

The experiment was made. To my sur- 



SPIRITISM. 41 

prise a name was first traced on the paper, 
which we will call " Elsa." On another line 
was the following : " Be quite calm, dear 
child, and He who is our firm stay in all 
danger will shield and protect you! Yes, 
be sure of his protection and you will never 
despair!" Here the young man broke off 
the writing, which was extremely indistinct 
and said : " I don't know if this is right, but 
it seems intended for someone who is called 
Elsa, but whom I do not know." I begged 
him to continue, for I knew that the dear 
friend who was now dead and wished to 
communicate with me in this way had been 
in the habit during his lifetime to call me 
Elsa, whilst everybody else always called 
me Elizabeth. This alone would have con- 
vinced me, had any further proof been needed 
than the one I had already received, when 
I felt the presence of my deceased friend. 
The communication concluded thus : 

11 My dear little friend, we .are with you in 
weal and woe. Keep our memory hallowed. 
We are grateful for every kind -thought from 



42 SPIRITISM. 

earth ; it soothes us, and heals many a wound 
which the heart, so often misunderstood, car- 
ried with it to the grave. The spirit freed 
from the body can then perceive more 
plainly why all this trouble happened; he 
thanks God for every trial which he sent, 
submits himself humbly to the merciful 
power which in love directed and shall always 
direct all things. Farewell ! Your old friend 
prays God to protect you. Sleep in peace, 
my child." 

You, who read this, will perhaps not be 
able to understand what a living consolation 
(if I may use such an expression) this mes- 
sage conveyed me. In the very moment of 
my life when I felt myself so cruelly struck 
down by an unexpected sorrow, and conse- 
quently quite crushed beneath the heavy 
blow, just in that moment, when I had 
entered the confines of Gethsemane, I felt 
myself surrounded by an invisible love and 
comforted by a well-known voice, which had 
penetrated the barrier, my reason had thought 
fit to erect between the temporal and spirit- 



SPIRITISM. 43 

ual world. In this moment of anguish my 
spiritual perceptions were awakened, and I 
could, as it were, become aware of the pres- 
ence of the messenger, which God in his 
mercy had sent to comfort and strengthen my 
spirit when it had entered the sacred pre- 
cincts of deepest suffering. 

In my inexperience I believed that this 
first station on the path of sorrow, would also 
be the last. I did not imagine one could 
survive greater agony, but already on the 
following evening I was brought to the next 
station of agony. 

'We were again sitting together, when raps 
were heard as distinctly as on the preceding 
night, but they sounded more agitated, and on 
asking who it was, we were told it was the 
same friend who had come before. We 
asked if he wished to write, but an answer in 
the negative was rapped out. The knockings 
continued, nevertheless, and may no one 
doubt my word when I say that they seemed 
to get more and more agitated and troubled, 



44 SPIRITISM. 

until at last, it appeared to me, they ex- 
pressed downright anguish or dread. 

Once more we asked if the spirit wished 
to write, and received for an answer : "Not 
now but later/' Almost directly afterwards, 
a servant entered with a letter for me. With 
no presentiment of any new evil threatening 
me I opened it. By the time I had read it 
through, I had reached the second station on 
the path of crucifixion. 

I will not detain my reader by describing 
what unendurable suffering is. Those who 
have not personally experienced it, would fail 
to understand. At any rate it is something 
bordering on madness or the agonies of 
death. At such a moment one cannot 
imagine that consolation is possible, at least 
I could not. But it was just then that I 
heard, close beside me, some low, distinct 
raps. This time they seemed pervaded with 
perfect calm. My young friend asked if we 
might receive a message. The answer was : 
" Yes, now we will write." And words were 
written, which brought strength and hope 



SPIRITISM. 



45 



and comfort to a bruised, broken and hope- 
less heart! — From that hour I became, and 
have ever since remained, a most convinced 
and steadfast spiritualist 







Now many a one may ask : " But what 
is really the difference between ' spiritism' 
and 'spiritualism? Are they not the same 
thing ? " " No," I answer, " they are no 
more the same thing than the shell and the 
kernel." If I may be permitted, I will now 
endeavor to explain as clearly as possible 
the difference between them. 

For a long time it struck me as particularly 
strange, that the connection between our 
world and the spiritual one around us, should 
frequently be manifested in such violent ways, 
as one often hears described in reports from 
America, England and several other countries. 
Afterwards when I had become a "writing 
medium" myself, I begged to be spiritually in- 



4 6 SPIRITISM. 

formed how it is that spirits who could choose 
so many ways of communicating with us, 
should sometimes prefer to make themselves 
perceptible by loud knockings, disturbing 
noises, moving of furniture, etc., etc. I received 
the following answer to my question : " The 
loud material proofs of a connection existing 
between the spiritual world and earth, have 
long attracted the attention of mankind, and 
it has often been affirmed that such evidence 
is of a nature, rather to destroy than to 
strengthen man's belief. This is, however, a 
wrong conception of their meaning. The 
Word of God is full with the most consoling 
proofs of the mission of spirits sent to man, 
to convey God's commands, to comfort the 
afflicted, and to work miracles (according to 
our human conceptions), but all these proofs 
have achieved little, by reason of the blindness 
and indifference of man. More and more has 
he lost the power of understanding the great 
things, which he could not see with spiritual 
eyes. In all ages, however, there have been 
some who could see, and hear, and understand, 



SPIRITISM. 47 

with their spiritual senses but they have been 
misunderstood by the many, and therefore 
they withheld, in silent meditation, the doc- 
trines, for the proclaiming of which, the time 
had not yet come. The world remained un- 
changed from century to century, man drew 
himself away more and more from the light 
of the Spirit, which at last was hardly able to 
penetrate the countless fogs of this dark Earth. 
Had the fog not been so thick, there had 
been no need for noise to awaken the children 
to a knowledge of their danger. But the 
peril was too close at hand, the peril of its 
becoming a disgrace to acknowledge that we 
have a Creator to thank for our life, and a 
Saviour for our salvation, and then the 
spirits clamored till man must awaken from 
his fatal lethargy. Then at last was his 
numbed repose shaken, and over the whole 
world the question started to life : " Are there 
invisible powers around us, who prove that 
we are as nothing before them, and that we, 
who believed ourselves so strong and inde- 
pendent, that we are merely like frail children 



4 8 SPIRITISM. 

in the presence of superior beings ? " The 
growing conviction that such is the case, has 
called forth many other thoughts, which have 
formed a chain from the spark to the light. 

Thank God, that the light has been re- 
vealed, if even as yet only to the few elect ! 
But God's mercy is great, and He gladly calls 
those who long in earnest for the light. These 
He first tries, and afterwards He selects those 
who have stood the test. 

On another occasion I wondered if it was 
possible, that not only God, but also His ser- 
vants in the spiritual world, could hear the 
groans of the afflicted, the silent prayers for 
help, in suffering and temptation. To this 
question I received an answer, which I will 
give here : 

" The human voice, which on account of its 
material construction, can only penetrate a 
short distance on earth, receives entirely new 
power when it issues from the heart. Then it 
pierces through space, overcomes all obstacles, 
and always reaches its destination. We have 
often witnessed how a cry of anguish wrung 



SPIRITISM. 49 

from repentance, has penetrated far into the 
eternal abode of love, and there awakened echo 
after echo. We have seen how the servants of 
God have exerted all their strength, all their 
power, to softly whisper a word of consolation 
to the anguished soul, but often their effort 
has remained unheeded, for even words of 
love, have difficulty to penetrate where un- 
belief and darkness reign. Alas, do not many 
say : ' I have no need of spiritism, it does 
not seem to me necessary for my salvation.' 
A blind man might as well say : ' I have no 
need of light. God's mercy is enough for me 
as it is ; I know His will, his revelations 
through others. I cannot certainly gain a 
knowledge of them myself by reading his holy 
words, or enjoying the beauties of nature, but 
I am satisfied as it is.' The poor, blind man 
has thus no conception of the joy of being 
able to convince himself at any moment, of the 
actual existence of the written word, just as 
little as he can imagine the delight of behold- 
ing those beauties of nature, which are so 
" often spoken of in the Word of God, nor can 



5 o SPIRITISM. 

he enjoy the sight of all the glorious won- 
ders which surround him ; in fact see them 
as actual realities, not only believe in them as 
described to him by others. It is just the 
same when man has received spiritual in- 
sight ; he can then, in a far higher degree, en- 
joy the greatness and goodness of God ; he can 
also gradually free himself from the bondage 
of beholding God's greatness through the 
eyes of others. His belief in what has been 
described to him becomes certainty. He is 
then also given opportunities of attaining to 
such wider knowledge as will allure his spirit 
from the temptations of various, and often very 
sinful desires. 

" Is not this a desirable aim ? It is certainly 
true that spiritism also has its perils, if you 
seek by means of it to gain some earthly end, 
or to make it a pedestal for your own little- 
ness. These dangers can, however, be averted 
if you pray God to purify and strengthen 
your feeble nature, to turn your thoughts to 
noble aims, and to sustain your strength, so 
that you may be enabled to shun those errors, 



SPIRITISM. 51 

to which you are else easily addicted, when you 
only live in, and for this world." 

Another time the following was written, 
when I was again wondering why God availed 
himself of intermediate hands, to carry out 
what he only required to will, in order to ac- 
complish. It seemed to me as if that marvel- 
lous, omnipotent " I will " ought to be alone 
sufficient to produce every required result. 
I could not imagine that God, the absolute 
Ruler, would deign to avail himself of the ser- 
vices of His subjects ; I did not even remem- 
ber that the Bible is one continued narrative, 
of how the servants of God have each in turn 
carried out His commands. But here is the 
explanation which I received : 

" We have endeavored to prove to man, 
that his conceit and self-sufficiency lead him 
astray when he attempts to explain those 
things which are from above. But if on the 
other hand, he seeks in faith and humility 
to approach those sanctuaries, where he can 
obtain peace, if he desire peace, and happi- 
ness, if he long for lasting happiness, and 



52 SPIRITISM. 

serenity of mind, if he will sacrifice his own 
interest, then and under such conditions alone 
he will be able to draw near to us and to that 
land of promise which shall fall to the lot of 
all those who follow the chosen guides of God. 

Had not the people of Israel believed in 
God's message, they would never have been 
freed from bondage. Had they foolishly an- 
swered His chosen messengers thus : " God is 
sufficient for us ; you are only mortals like 
ourselves. If God will, He can deliver us with- 
out your help. You cannot offer us benefits, 
which God's mercy is not able to bestow 
without your interference." Had they said 
this, God, in his anger would not have per- 
mitted the deliverance for which they had so 
longed sighed. 

Even when they did receive His message, 
in a proper spirit, He put them to the test over 
and over again. Had they then only never 
wavered in their faith, or been tempted to evil 
when they believed themselves forgotten by 
the Lord, they would have done much to 
hasten their deliverance, but doubts and 



SPIRITISM. 53 

murmurings prolonged the time of their 
probation. 

All ye wanderers on earth who are journey- 
ing towards the promised celestial land, do 
not, we pray you, reject the guides, whom God 
sends to point out the surest way. Reject 
not the council which is given you, not to 
murmur nor to despair, for thereby you only 
impede your own progress. Support the weak 
when they commence to waver ; show them 
how a Christian can bear his cross without 
murmuring, adorning it with the flowers which 
earth was permitted to retain, when our dear 
Saviour's head was stung by the deep thorns 
which pierced even to His soul. 

You have so infinitely much to thank God 
for, even when life seems most sorrowful, but 
egotism only beholds its own sufferings, and 
ingratitude turns away from the richest bless- 
ings. Pray God that you may become en- 
nobled, thereby worthier of all the invisible 
proofs of love with which He surrounds you. 

We spoke once of the blind who wished to 
continue in his blindness, but God forbid that 



54 



SPIRITISM. 



the selfish should also desire to remain selfish, 
or the thankless ungrateful. 





Before I now endeavor to explain to the 
reader, what is usually meant by one word ; 
" Spiritism," I must appeal to his good will to 
try and understand me rightly, so that by the 
help of intuition he may meet me half way. 
Only upon this supposition, shall I succeed 
in awakening in him that reciprocity of feel- 
ing which is requisite for understanding a sub- 
ject which lies quite beyond the pale of ordi- 
nary ideas. If he will only endeavor for a 
moment to forget all the contempt and deris- 
ion, which the words " spiritism " often calls 
forth, it is possible, that, however incredulous 
he may be, the subject, taken from a serious 
and truthful point of view, may at last awaken 
his interest. 

By Spiritism is meant a connection, or 
intercourse, with the spiritual world. Surely 



SPIRITISM. 55 

there is no religion existing, in which, in 
some form or other, a belief in spirits is not 
to be found, just as there are few hearts which 
do not experience a strange sensation, when 
this subject happens to become the topic of 
serious conversation. This kind of feeling I 
should like to call a reciprocity of emotion, 
which the immortal within us experiences, 
when by the help of thought, or feeling, it 
comes in contact with the immortal which 
lies beyond our usual sphere of vision, or 
experience. 

In the Christian religion the belief in the 
invisible world has reached its height, but of 
this I will not speak yet, as I wish at present 
to confine myself exclusively to the word 
spiritism, which has a wide signification. 

This word contains, to speak plainly, the 
possibility of approaching the spiritual world 
in three different ways, or degrees. We 
Protestants profess only to believe in two 
states of existence in a future life ; we call 
them, Heaven and Hell. The Roman Catho- 
lics and Spiritists on the other hand, believe in 



5 6 SPIRITISM. 

three states after death. Each of these can 
of course be divided into infinite grades, but 
the principle are called Heaven, Hell and 
Purgatory. According to the Protestants, 
the good spirits dwell in Heaven, the bad in 
Hell. After death, according to the Protes- 
tant doctrine, one is doomed to everlasting 
blessedness or damnation. The Catholics, on 
the other hand, believe that a weak, sinful 
human being, is not worthy of entering at 
once into everlasting bliss, nor that he is bad 
enough to be condemned by -&just God to 
the torments of an everlasting Hell. They 
believe, therefore, that his spirit passes to a 
sphere, where it can be ennobled and de- 
veloped^ and at last made worthy of entering 
into God's glorious habitation. The differ- 
ence between the Spiritualist and the Roman 
Catholic faith lies in this, that whereas the 
Spiritist believes in the celestial state, as 
well as in the probationary stage, he also 
believes in a Gehenna, a Hades, a something, 
which corresponds to what is usually termed 
"Hell," where a (symbolical) everlasting 



SPIRITISM. 57 

furnace, purges the dross from the noble 
metal in the human heart. He does not be- 
lieve, however, that under any circumstances 
the spirit is confined forever, to this region 
of suffering and torment. On the contrary, 
he believes that when the work is done, the 
spirit is released from the bonds of punish- 
ment and trial and in God's own appointed 
time is raised to the sphere, where the wicked 
cannot dwell, and where the higher develop- 
ment commences. Therefore, to sum up 
briefly, the Spiritualist believes in three 
states after death. 

As the Spiritist believes, as we have just 
remarked, in a connection between our world 
and the invisible spheres around us, he also, 
in consequence, believes in a connection with 
the highest sphere, the intermediate sphere 
and the lowest. The connection with the 
latter I should call witchcraft or black magic, 
meaning thereby intercourse with the lowest, 
or evil world of spirits. 

" Spiritism" should again signify intercourse 
with a mixed world of spirits, a sphere where 



58 SPIRITISM. 

they are neither all good, nor all bad. This 
world is therefore a dangerous field for ex- 
periences, as the spiritual communications 
issuing from it can assume a variety of forms, 
alternating continually between good and 
bad. 

But now we come to that kind of intercourse 
with the spiritual world, which I will give the 
name of Spiritualism. By this I allude to the 
connection with the highest sphere in the 
spiritual world, which is only permitted to the 
'true followers of Christ, and through which 
they enjoy the fulfilment of His own promise, 
that He should send the Comforter, the Holy 
Spirit to them. 

By "Comforter" should in this case be 
understood that power which emanates from 
God Himself, which sustains and strengthens 
in life's sorest trials, and which is at times 
confided to holy angels and spirits, charged 
by God to enlighten and protect those who 
are in need, and who are in a condition to 
receive divine grace. Christ Himself enjoyed, 
in the highest degree this wonderful spiritual 



SPIRITISM. 59 

union with the celestial powers, and. He prom- 
ised His followers that after His death the 
Holy Spirit should also descend upon them. 
Had not this promise been fulfilled, would the 
army of martyrs ever have been formed to 
bring down, as it were at any cost, a portion 
of Heaven to earth ? The heavenly seed was 
sown in their innocently shed blood, but earth 
reaped the blessed harvest, for it was only 
after the descent of the Holy Ghost had taken 
place, that man received strength to love his 
neighbor as himself, yea, often more than him- 
self, and thereby bring to earth the precious 
teachings from those spheres where love rules 
omnipotent. These elect ought not perhaps 
to be called " saints," but missionaries from 
Heaven, sent to spread light and true knowl- 
edge amongst all the nations on earth. 

If they had not felt the presence of the 
Holy Spirit in their hearts, they could not, 
as the prophets of old, have stood in direct 
communication with the heavenly powers — 
they could not then have carried out their 
various tasks, which all had but one aim, 



60 SPIRITISM. 

namely, to draw down the Kingdom of God 
to earth. Christ taught them to pray : " Thy 
Kingdom come." The Holy Spirit bestowed 
upon them the power of endeavoring to realize 
this prayer. In Christ's day more could not 
be required of mankind than this : " Love 
God above all things, and thy neighbor as 
thyself." But since that time, mankind has 
been fortified by the gifts of the Spirit, which 
through the revelation of Christ alone could 
descend to earth ; he has, in consequence, 
grown in strength, and learnt to understand 
that if the world is to become a Kingdom of 
God, he must not only love God above all 
things, but, by doing so in the right way, be 
brought to see that he must love his neighbor 
more than himself. 

This is a hard saying, many will tell you. 
Do not believe it ! It is the token that the 
glorifying light of the Holy Spirit has touched 
your heart and your brow, that the " Holy 
Ghost" has made manifest Christ's divine 
word and mission, which was to teach us by 
His example this heavenly precept. 



SPIRITISM. 6 1 

Impeded and oppressed as we are by the 
imperfections of our earthly nature, we are as 
yet little able to respond to what is demanded 
of us. But God does not look to the weak- 
ness of our attempts, but to the fervor of our 
desire, and that lies within the region of our 
own free will. 

If we now return to the word " Spirit- 
ualism," it is evident by the explanation I 
have endeavored to give, that every true 
Christian must be a Spiritualist, because he 
has intercourse with God— the God of spirits 
— by prayer. Prayer is, namely, communi- 
cation between the spirit within us, and the 
spirit without us. Prayer to Christ is another 
intercourse with the highest sphere. That 
inexpressible yearning to draw near in thought 
to the spirit of some loved, lost one ; to pour 
out the cravings of our soul to him, is also an 
intercourse with " the other world." The con- 
viction that we are, according to the teachings 
of Scripture, surrounded by angels is one of 
the pillars of spiritualism. Most Christians be- 
lieve thus much, but beyond this preparatory 



62 SPIRITISM. 

faith, if I may so call it, they have seldom ad- 
vanced. And why? Because they have not 
first sought after the Kingdom of God. They 
have not searched the Scriptures. They have 
but seldom read them with prayer for guid- 
ance. They have mostly only availed them- 
selves of the light of their own limited under- 
standing to pierce the obscurity in which 
the Scriptures are shrouded. Had they, on 
the other hand, prayed for light from God, a 
divine ray would have dispersed the darkness, 
and illumined their reason. The light of the 
Holy Spirit would have called forth in them 
the capacity of receiving and understanding 
the immeasurably deep, but simple truths of 
Scripture. 

Had not the demons of pride and self 
glorification so often been allowed to obscure 
man's understanding, there never would have 
arisen so many dogmas, and confused in- 
terpretations of the Bible, — interpretations 
which have so long been the despair of the 
true believer. For the true believer does not 
believe because others force a faith upon him, 



SPIRITISM. 63 

but because he feels within himself a corre- 
sponding emotion which agrees with that 
which is put before him. 

That is the reason why Humanity must, as 
yet, have such an infinite variety of religions 
and creeds, while it is still enveloped in the 
dense mist of sins, and open to false doctrines, 
which accord with its own wretched carnal- 
minded faith. 

For the spirit there is only one faith, but 
how many are there who even know that they 
have a spirit? At the most they feel, now and 
then, that they have a soul, that part of the 
spirit which is, so to say, intermixed with the 
body. Well, for the spirit, the purely immor- 
tal within us, there is only one religion, one 
faith, which corresponds to the one which 
belongs to the highest world of spirits, but is 
seldom revealed on earth, the faith which is the 
reward of the liberated, truth-seeking human 
spirit, and the realized bliss of the angels. 

The more this hidden world reveals itself 
to man, the deeper is the insight he gets, and 
the greater the certainty which he obtains, 



64 SPIRITISM. 

that beyond this dream life on earth, lies the 
real, actual life. 

In former times prophets and prophetesses 
were chosen amongst the nations on earth, 
to prove to them, by visions, prophecies and 
counsels, that this world of ours is surrounded 
by another vastly its superior. Can this be 
told more plainly, than in the Second Book of 
Kings, 6th chapter, where it is related how 
Elisha, the man of God, by the gift of inspira- 
tion, warned the King of Israel of the various 
attacks the King of Syria intended to make 
upon him, or, when in the morning, Elisha's 
servant warned him, in the city of Dothan, 
that the hosts of the King of Syria, with horses 
and chariots, had, during the night, compassed 
the city round about, adding " Alas, my mas- 
ter, what shall we do ? " 

How calmly did not then the man of God 
answer : " Fear not, for they that be with 
us are more than they that be with them." 
By this he did not mean that the inhabitants 
of the little town could defend themselves 
against the mighty hosts of the warrior king. 



SPIRITISM. 65 

No, he relied upon the hosts, invisible to 
ordinary eyes, which ever encompass us with 
their might, for he prayed and said : " Lord, 
open his eyes that he may see. And the 
Lord opened the eyes of his servant, and 
he saw, and behold the mountain was full 
of horses and chariots of fire round about 
Elisha." 

A Swedish commentator of the Bible (Me- 
lin) has, inspired by the spirit of truth, thus 
interpreted this narrative : " It is an inexpres- 
sibly glorious thought, that the veil which 
shrouds the mortal eye can, for a while, be 
lifted here on earth, to enable man to get 
a clear view of the workings of Provi- 
dence." 

It is further related how Elisha (according 
to Melin's explanation), accompanied by the 
invisible guardian powers, went down with 
his servant from the heights of the city to 
the hostile bands, which encompassed it below, 
whilst the heavenly defenders surrounded 
it above. When they came to the enemy's 
camp, Elisha prayed that the Lord would 



66 SPIRITISM, 

smite the people with blindness. This the 
Lord also did. 

The narrative relates further, how the 
prophet led them afterwards into Samaria 
itself — that is to say, to the headquarters of 
their enemies the Israelites, where the King of 
Israel dwelt. Here he prayed the Lord again 
to open their eyes, which also came to pass. 
But now the prophet shows that he is a man 
of God, one verily chosen and enlightened 
by God, for when the King of Israel wanted 
to smite his enemies the prophet reminds him 
that they had not been captured in the usual 
way with the sword — they must not therefore 
be treated in the customary warlike fashion, but 
be well entertained and afterwards sent back to 
their master. The king followed the counsel 
of the man of God, and the blessing was not 
withheld, for the bands of Syria came no more 
into the land of Israel. 

I dare not detain the reader too long by 
pointing out to him, how one Bible narrative 
after the other proves that there have been at 
all times elect, to whom have been revealed 



SPIRITISM, 67 

the hidden ways of God for ruling and guiding 
His children. The "unbeliever" may smile, 
perhaps, at my simple faith, not only as re- 
gards what the Bible teaches, but also at what 
I have myself experienced many times in my 
life, but surely those who profess to believe in 
the Word of God ought rather to rejoice to 
hear, that the- spiritualist has really received 
proofs that the wonderful events recorded in 
both the Old and New Testament have their 
parallel in our days, although but few are 
aware of this, and no one to my knowledge 
has yet spoken of these, in the highest sense, 
spiritual manifestations. 

I must now beg to be allowed to explain, 
by means of two instances taken from the 
Holy Scriptures, the difference between a 
" spiritualist" and a " spiritist." 

I should then wish to call King Belshazzar's 
" wise men," " magicians, " " Chaldeans " and 
" soothsayers," whom he summoned to inter- 
pret the letters of fire on the wall, spiritists, or 
such- who cannot always rely on assistance 
from the spiritual world. Although their life 



68 SPIRITISM. 

depended upon it, none of them could either 
read or explain the writing. It had been 
traced by spirit-hand, but who could interpret 
it ? A woman came to the rescue ; the queen 
comforted her husband with these words : 
" There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is 
the spirit of the holy gods ; and in the days of 
thy father, light and understanding and wis- 
dom like the wisdom of the gods, was found 
in him ; whom the King Nebuchadnezzar thy 
father, the king, I say, made master of the 
magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans and sooth- 
sayers ; forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and 
knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of 
dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and 
dissolving of doubts, were found in the same 
Daniel : now let Daniel be called, and he will 
show the interpretation." 

And Daniel the man of God came, and 
the king spoke to him in these words : " I 
have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the 
gods is in thee, and that light and understand- 
ing and excellent wisdom is found in thee." 

So the king promised him rich gifts and 



SPIRITISM. 69 

great earthly advantages, if he would fulfil 
the king's wish, and interpret the writing. 

But though the " spiritualist " Daniel 
would not receive rewards and distinctions 
for the gifts God had blessed him with, he 
still complied to the king's request. 

What was denied to the others to see, he 
saw ; and those fatal words : " Mene, Mene, 
Tekel, Upharsin," he could not only read 
but interpret. 

Belshazzar must have felt that a man of 
God stood before him, a man to be honored 
above all others, for, in spite of the dreadful 
message he brought the king, he distin- 
guished him, the prisoner Daniel, as if he were 
one of the first in the realm. 

But Daniel knew from whence he had 
received this knowledge, both on this occa- 
sion and a former one when he had interpreted 
King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, for of him- 
self he declared ( Daniel, chap, ii., verse 30) : 
" But as for me, this secret is not revealed to 
me for any wisdom that I have more than 
any living, but for their sakes that shall make 



JO SPIRITISM. 

known the interpretation to the king, and 
that thou mightest know the thoughts of 
thy heart." 






Here is another illustration, taken from the 
Old Testament, which shows the difference 
between " Spiritism " and " Spiritualism." I 
refer this time to the witch of Endor, so 
often mentioned with dread, and w hois un- 
justly, as I think, called the "witch," for, by 
witch, one means generally a wicked being, 
and this woman, on the contrary, showed a 
most kindly disposition of heart towards poor 
despairing king Saul, and is not the tree to be 
known by its fruit ? 

Let me first remind you of the story in a 
few words. King Saul had, from the heights 
of Gilboa, seen the hosts of the Philistines 
which were ready to attack him and subdue 
the country. His heart trembled at the 
sight, for the threatened danger was over- 



SPIRITISM. 71 

whelming. Saul, who had so often forgotten 
his Lord and master, now inquires of the 
Lord what he had better do, but receives no 
answer, " either through dreams or through 
Urim* or the prophets." 

In his despair he then begged to be told 
where he could find a fortune-teller, or a 
woman who had familiar spirit ! 

He was told that there was such a one 
close to Endor. Saul went to her at night, 
disguised, and implored her thus : " I pray 
thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, 
and bring me him up, whom I shall name 
unto thee." The woman was frightened and 
answered : " Behold, thou knowest what 
Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those 
that have familiar spirits, and wizards out of 
the land : wherefore then layest thou a snare 
for my life, to cause me to die ? " But Saul 

* Questions were answered through Urim and Thummim— so it 
is said— in the following manner. The High Priest put on his sacred 
robe, on the breast of which was fastened, what was believed to be 
a cut crystal, called Urim and Thummim. The inquirer looked 
into the crystal, and if God was gracious to him, he could read 
the answer in the stone. 



72 SPIRITISM. 

assured her, that no harm should come to 
her. By this promise her fears were allayed 
and she asked whose spirit she should bring 
up. He begged her -to call forth the spirit of 
Samuel, which must have appeared immedi- 
ately afterwards and revealed to her who 
Saul really was, for she cried out at once : 
" Why hast thou deceived me ? For thou art 
Saul." Here I must beg to copy, word for 
word, the Rev. Melin's comment on what 
took place, in consequence of Samuel's ap- 
pearing to the woman. He says, namely : 
" She saw his ghost rising up from Sheol or 
the kingdom of the dead. The older inter- 
pretation of a spectral form, in which Satan 
had disguised himself, and in Samuel's shape 
and speech, talked with Saul, is as little to be 
commended as more modern ones, that the 
whole was an artful fraud on the part of the 
woman. Saul himself saw nothing, and what 
the woman saw and heard, she saw and heard 
in a state of magnetic clairvoyance or som- 
nambulism, without the least conscious inten- 
tion of deceiving. The Bible narrative is 



SPIRITISM. 73 

moreover so vivid and intelligible, that even 
the most incredulous interpreters of the 
Scriptures have been obliged to acknowledge 
its historic truth, and all the more, as it has 
its counterpart in later times." 

I will now resume the narrative by calling 
to mind that King Saul endeavored once 
more to calm the frightened woman, beseeching 
her to tell him what she saw. She then told 
him that she saw " gods," or according to the 
Rev. Melin's explanation, " spirits," ascend- 
ing out of the earth. The king asked again : 
" What form is he of ? " She described " an 
old man, covered with a prophet's mantle."* 

* I cannot resist relating here, something very similar to what 
has just been described, which has happened to myself. The young 
"medium," I have mentioned before, described to me once in Paris, 
during a trance, how he saw a spirit who looked at me most lovingly. 
He described him as being an old man, with a gray beard, not 
exactly good looking but with such an infinitely loving expression, 
and eyes that seemed to shine like stars, and he added : " he wears 
a broad leather girdle round the waist ; it is very curious ! ' ' This 
spirit I used to call from the earliest communications he gave me 
the " beloved spirit, ' ' for none could compare with him in lovingness. 

Five years later I visited a lady in the south of Austria, a Countess 
Von V., well known in spiritistic circles for her mediumship. One 
evening, when she was in a trance, she described to me, in almost 
the same words as the young man in Paris (whom she had never 
heard me mention) the same spirit, for whom I had such great love 



74 SPIRITISM. 

More was not needed, for Saul, by that 
strange feeling before mentioned, which re- 
sponds within us to truth, knew for certain 
that it was the spirit of Samuel. In this 
conviction he bowed himself to the ground, 
thus showing his veneration for the great 
spirit, who had answered his call. 

Samuel now reproaches Saul that he had 
disturbed him. Saul excuses himself in the 
following touching words, " I am sore distress- 
ed, for the Philistines make war against me, 
and God is departed from me, and answereth 
me no more, neither by prophets nor by 

and veneration. She described his wonderfnlly loving expression, 
his gray beard, his whole appearance, and mentioned, lastly also 
with an expression of surprise, ' ' he wears a leather girdle round his 
waist." 

What these two medium in two different places had seen and de- 
scribed to me, each separately and after a long interval of time, 
may I think be considered a modern counterpart to what the so- 
called witch of Endor described. Perhaps the most remarkable 
thing is that she and they had been allowed to see in spirit one of 
the greatest prophets. The woman of Endor saw Samuel, Countess 
Von. V. as well as the "medium" saw the prophet Elias. 

I hadyW/ intuitively, (though not quite without cause) that this 
" beloved spirit" who protected me and had shown himself at two 
different times, was Elias, but I was not quite certain until a year 
after this last occasion, when I read II. Kings, i. 8, Elias thus de- 
scribed, ' ' He was a hairy man and had a leather girdle about his 
loins." 



SPIRITISM. 75 

dreams ; therefore I have called thee that thou 
mayest make known unto me what I shall do." 

From this it is plain that a " medium," or 
as she is called here, a witch (seer), was neces- 
sary to put the living in communication with 
him who was dead according to earthly 
interpretation. 

Samuel speaks now and reminds Saul, that 
the Lord is no longer with him, but that now 
it has come to pass as the prophet foretold 
when he was alive. The kingdom has passed 
out of his hands, and been given to David. 
Because Saul has not obeyed the voice of the 
Lord, the Lord shall also give the people of 
Israel into the hands of the Philistines. 
Finally Samuel foretells that Saul as well as 
his sons "will be with him." On the fol- 
lowing day, they will have departed this life. 

When Saul hears these dreadful words, he 
falls fainting to the ground. 

It is then that the woman, by speaking 
loving words to him, proves whose child of 
the spirit she is. She reminds him now that 
by having called forth the spirit of Samuel at 



7 6 SPIRITISM. 

his desire she has risked her life, and all that 
she asks as a reward, for what she has done 
for Saul is that " he shall hearken to the 
voice of his handmaid," and let her put before 
him " a morsel of bread " that he may eat and 
be strengthened. After much persuasion on 
the part of the woman as well as of his ser- 
vants, he at last consents. Then she kills the 
fatted calf, thus offering him the best she has 
at her disposal. 

Let no one therefore speak of " the woman 
of Endor" as being bad, or a " witch ! " She 
was only a spiritistic medium not a spiritual- 
istic, for in that case she would have been 
called a prophetess and treated with venera- 
tion. Saul on the other hand is the erring one. 
He ought not to have sought her aid, to com- 
pel an answer from above, which had been de- 
nied him by the men of God and the prophets. 

The answer he received, though in itself 
most awful, did not, however, contain more 
dreadful prophecies than others which the 
prophets afterwards gave to the kings both of 
Israel and Judah. 



SPIRITISM. 77 

In contrast to the culpability of Saul in 
forcing himself to an answer, I will now point 
out a case where it was not only permissible 
but meritorious, to seek aid and counsel from 
one of God's chosen inspired seers. 

It was, namely, when King Josiah was 
informed, that during the repairs of the Tem- 
ple at Jerusalem, the Book of the Law, 
" which the Lord had given unto Moses," * 
had been found hidden in the money chest. 
When the king now heard the words of the 
Law read to him, he was frightened. He was 
himself a righteous and devoted man of God, 
and had not only endeavored to root out 
idolatry from amongst the neighboring nations, 
but had also conscientiously commenced, when 
only twenty years of age, an ecclesiastical 
reform which lasted from the twelfth to the 
eighteenth year of his reign. Thus for six 
years he had assiduously endeavored to purify 
the Church, when at last by the discovery of 
the book of the Law, he was enabled to learn 
how much that Church and its followers had 

* 2Chron. xxxiv. 14. 



78 SPIRITISM. 

sinned, turning more and more from the Lord's 
holy commandments. 

What does this man then do, of whom the 
Scriptures say, "And like unto him was there 
no king before him, that turned to the Lord 
with all his heart, and with all his soul, and 
with all his might, according to all the law 
of Moses." * 

Well, in his despair that the people of Israel 
and Judah had " not kept the word of the 
Lord," and that the wrath of the Lord should 
be poured over them, he commands the High 
Priest Hilkiah to go, accompanied by the 
highest in the land, to the prophetess Huldah, 
in order to hear from her mouth, through 
direct inspiration, what the Lord had to an- 
nounce to them. Her answer was not long 
in coming, it was almost similar to the one 
which Saul received from the woman of Endor, 
namely calamity and desolation should be the 
punishment for the sins which the priests and 
the people had committed, but as Josiah had 
lived a righteous and godly life, and his heart 

* II. Kings, xxiii, 25. 



SPIRITISM. 79 

was moved with sorrow at the discovery of 
the great wickedness which prevailed in the 
kingdom, he should be spared the grief of 
witnessing the coming desolation, and be 
gathered to his fathers beforehand. And so 
it also came to pass. 

I have wished by these two narratives from 
the Bible to illustrate the difference between 
a justifiable wish to know God's will and 
receive counsel through one of His elect, and 
an unjustifiable craving to search out the hid- 
den mysteries of His will. In the one instance 
it is Saul, who after his request to be enlight- 
ened by one of God's chosen, and after having 
been denied this, seeks nevertheless to attain a 
knowledge which was refused to him. He then 
still persists and turns to a common medium, 
who probably for money made use of her gifts 
as a profession. The difference between these 
two is this, that "whereas the one never em- 
ploys her gift except in the service of God, and 
never without being entirely devoted to Him, 
as far as it is possible to be in this imperfect 
world, the other one often leans to both sides, 



So SPIRITISM. 

and serves God and Mammon alternately. 
They are both mediums, but the one is a spirit- 
ualist, the other a spiritist. 

With regard to the third class of mediums, 
I will merely say, that no doubt there exists an 
intercourse with the wicked spiritual world ; 
it is therefore all the more important that one 
should know what it consists in, and it is truly 
fortunate that from several pulpits in Sweden, 
warnings have lately gone forth reminding us 
that we are surrounded by " evil influences," 
" evil spirits," who want to lure man to de- 
struction. Those who lend a willing ear to 
the voices of these spirits, those who fly to 
them for help, who wish to avail themselves 
of their power and influence, will certainly get 
what they covet. 

All which comes to the petitioner through 
this source, however either to his own advan- 
tage or for the destruction of others, I should 
call witchcraft, or unjustifiable, sinful spirit- 
ism. 

Sometimes even noble and high-minded 
persons can be tempted by these false voices, 



SPIRITISM. 8! 

which often adopt a dangerous, fascinating 
language, resembling even that of justice. 

As an example I will mention here an oc- 
currence, for the truth of which I can vouch. 
It was related by the person himself, who, ac- 
cording to my idea, was tempted to an un- 
just thought, for action I cannot call it, al- 
though it led to an awful result. 

This person was a prominent member of 
the society for the protection of animals, and 
had nobly sacrificed six years of his life, in 
laboring without intermission to counteract 
that kind of torturing of animals, which is 
perpetrated in the name of science and called 
vivisection. 

This eminent man of science was very 
" mediumistic," and therefore also susceptible 
to the " evil influences " which are continually 
around us. 

One day he was thinking of all the dreadful 
suffering to which the poor defenceless ani- 
mals are exposed. He thought of the fright- 
ful abuse of power, which in cold blood, and 
with easy conscience and stony hearts, man, 



82 SPIRITISM. 

on the plea of instruction, is guilty of towards 
them. He became suddenly seized with a feel- 
ing of deepest horror; among all the thousand 
vivisectors, the image of Claude Bernard the 
renowned physiologist seemed to stand out 
most vividly before him. It appeared almost 
as it were dripping with the blood so merci- 
lessly shed, and surrounded by innumerable 
eyes expressive of the most indescribable suf- 
fering. Contempt, hatred, blazed up in his 
heart, a kind of frenzy took possessions of him 
and entirely beside himself, he hurled a curse 
at the one who had so sinned and bid him die ! 
One can hardly realize the dismay this person 
felt, when he heard later on that Claude 
Bernard had actually died the same hour, 
when his opponent had so ardently wished 
him out of this world. 

Could one not almost feel inclined to 
believe in this case, that evil spirits had has- 
tened with joy to carry out the sentence of 
death. But what a heavy responsibility for 
the one, who in a moment of ungovernable 
fury had been tempted to curse his brother ! 



SPIRITISM. S$ 

Our great poet, Tegner has* in " Frithiofs 
Saga " has given expression to the idea, that 
man in critical moments is tempted by evil 
spirits, as well as warned and fortified by good 
ones. The two birds who sing into Frithiofs 
ears, as he is watching over his rival king Ring, 
during his sleep, are typical of these invisible 
conflicting powers. 

But how often is not this conflict, between 
good and evil influences, repeated in our 
every day life ! If man could only depict to 
himself the exultation which arises in the two 
opposite camps, when he either yields to, or 
withstands temptations such as envy, conceit 
harsh judgment, misunderstanding, calumny, 
deception, avarice, and — last but not least — 
sensuality. These are the demons of every- 
day life, but behind them are others which 
tempt to greater and greater sins. Well 
would it be if he could understand in its deep- 
est significance the words " Thousands of 
invisible witnesses compass us round about." 
And more desirable still, if he understood that 
amongst these are innumerable good and 



84 SPIRITISM. 

blessed spirits and angels, who at the least 
prayer for help, are willing to protect us, and 
banish all evil from us. Here some one may 
remark " But I only seek God's protection." 
But surely these are His servants they bring 
you His protection ! For the present, what I 
have now tried to explain with regard to the 
three different ways of holding intercourse 
with the spiritual world, must be sufficient. 
Another time I may perhaps return to the sub- 
ject, but then much more fully. This first little 
work can only serve as a short introduction to 
a fuller treatment of a very vast subject. 

Probably there are many amongst my read- 
ers who think : " Yes, it's all very well, but we 
should very much like to hear of some actual 
result, something wonderful, which has really 
happened through the intercourse with the 
spiritual world." 

Oh, how well I can understand this! I 
used to feel just the same, before I received 
so many proofs, that I forgot my first yearn- 
ings for them. I will therefore gladly comply 
with my reader's wish. Let me first say, how- 



SPIRITISM. 85 

ever, that the so-called actual proofs are 
certainly very interesting, but that those proofs 
which in the beginning are withheld, and 
only obtained after long years of waiting, are 
far more convincing. A prediction is often 
followed by circumstances which seem in direct 
contradiction to what has been foretold. The 
honest spiritualist, who believes with all a 
child's trust, has in consequence to undergo 
severe trials which often reach the limit of 
the highest suffering. But if his intentions 
are of the right kind, if he has consecrated 
his spiritual communions by prayer, he must 
not give way to despair, for everything will 
be explained in its own good time. We mor- 
tals have such limited capacity for understand- 
ing and comprehending aright. We interpret 
in our fashion, but we often afterwards receive 
proofs that it was our interpretation which 
was at fault, and that the fulfilment of what 
was foretold came to pass, in quite a different 
way to what we had thought. 

The first time that my wish to see a phys- 
ical phenomenon was granted, I was already 



86 SPIRITISM. 

warned in the morning that it would take 
place in the evening. 

The young medium before mentioned and 
I were sitting chatting one evening, when 
he quite suddenly fell into a trance, which he 
took for a headache, or rather a feeling of 
overwhelming fatigue. He begged me to be 
allowed to rest for a moment on a little sofa 
which stood at the other end of the room. 
In order that no one may imagine that the 
young man had any conscious part in what 
now followed, I will explain graphically how 
it all occurred. We were sitting in a lar^e 
square room. Along one of the walls was a 
sofa on which I sat. On the wall opposite 
to me was a large open fireplace. To the 
right of that stood the sofa where he was 
resting. On the other side of the fireplace 
there were two large arm-chairs which blocked 
his view. Behind these, farthest away in the 
left corner of the room, stood a large velvet 
table, crossways ; between it and the door to 
the left, there was a little round table with 
some heavy object on it. Between this and 



SPIRITISM. $j 

the velvet table there was only a very, very 
small space left in the form of a triangle. 

The medium was still resting on the sofa, 
and I sat in my place occupied in drawing. 
After a good while had elapsed I heard a 
slight thumping sound, in the left corner of 
the room, just like the noise of a somewhat 
large glass object being put down, or falling 
upright on to a carpeted floor. I distinctly 
heard the sound of glass falling in this way. 
I looked up alarmed, thinking the young man 
had risen and perhaps knocked some table 
ornament down. He was lying, however, 
quite motionless on the sofa. 

Then I thought I must have heard wrong, 
but no ! Too distinctly to permit of doubt, I 
had heard what I am describing here. My 
eyes now sought a tall turquoise-blue Venetian 
glass vase, which used to stand amongst other 
things on the velvet table, a good bit from 
the edge, in order to be quite safe. To my 
surprise it was not there. ' " What has be- 
come of my blue vase ? " I exclaimed, " it 



88 SPIRITISM. 

i 

can't possibly have fallen down ? it stood too 
far from the edge of the table ! " 

The medium, rousing himself, said : " Per- 
haps the spirits have put it down on the 
floor." " Impossible," I answered ; " surely 
spirits cannot move things ! " " Oh, yes," he 
replied, " it happens sometimes ! " I begged 
him eagerly to see what ,had happened, " for 
then," I added, " the blue vase is standing 
between the velvet table and the little round 
one, but it isn't likely, for there is no room 
for it there, but do, look ! " 

" Before doing so," answered the medium, 
still immovable on the sofa, " I will only call 
your attention to the fact that if the vase 
has been put down by the spirits, it will not be 
cracked or damaged in the least; but if on the 
contrary it has fallen down, it will certainly 
have been broken." Then he went and 
looked and my eyes followed his every move- 
ment. Before taking it up he said : " I can 
see it already on the floor," and then lifting 
the vase quietly up he brought it at once to 
me, and lo ! though it was made of the thin- 



SPIRITISM. 89 

nest glass and ornamented with glass flowers, 
there was not the least damage done to it. 

After examining it carefully I went to the 
spot where it was found standing on the floor, 
and with the vase itself I measured the three- 
cornered space between the two tables, and 
saw that it was quite impossible for the vase 
to have fallen down without striking its 
length against the edges of the tables. It 
could only have been put down upright, and 
how carefully this had been done ! 

Let no sceptic now believe that the me- 
dium had himself quietly put down the vase. 
In the first place he was thoroughly honest, 
secondly it was through the occurrence itself, 
through the slight bumping sound, and the 
clink of the glass, that I was made aware of 
what had happened, while the medium never 
stirred from his place, and mind, the room 
was well lit. 

A couple of months afterwards a servant 
broke the vase. She had but touched it 
lightly as it stood on another table. As the 
vase was a dear remembrance, I hoped that 



9<D SPIRITISM. 

it might be possible to mend it, and begged 
the servant to show me the pieces. "Ah," 
she said, " it can't be mended for it was just 
as if the vase had been ground to powder by 
the fall, although it fell very lightly on to the 
carpet." 

This little incident may serve as an exam- 
ple of the proofs which led me to the convic- 
tion that the spiritual powers can control the 
physical world. 

These kind of phenomenon are however so 
common nowadays, and their existence is so 
fully acknowledged, after the strictest and 
most persistent researches have been made 
by famous scientific men in different coun- 
tries, that I need not detain the reader by de- 
scribing a long list of them. Besides, I wish 
only to speak strictly of what I have myself 
witnessed. 

Not long after what I have just described, 
quite a new sphere was opened out to me. 
It was far different from this lower one, where 
spirits are found who are allowed through 
physical phenomena to prove to the most in- 



SPIRITISM. 9I 

credulous, that a spiritual world exists, how- 
ever much he may deny its existence, simply 
because he will not believe in it. Oh ! let 
me instead speak of the blessed influence 
of Spiritualism and all the good it leads to ! 

During all my life, it has been a subject of 
surprise to me to see how little moral help or 
spiritual guidance we receive from our fellow 
creatures. If we are in spiritual difficulty 
or distress — if we cannot see clearly before us, 
or judge what is the best to be done under 
certain hard circumstances, or which is the 
right course of action — how almost impossible 
is it not to find a friend who will guide and 
enlighten us ! It is certainly said that every- 
thing can be bought in this world, but one 
cannot buy anything so inestimible as this 
— a good advice at the right moment, — espe- 
cially if it concerns your spiritual welfare. 

And to whom should you apply ? To the 
servants of the different churches ? but they 
one and all declare, that they, just they, pos- 
sess the only real -truth. The pastors of the 
different Churches, who often mutually decry 



92 SPIRITISM. 

each other, still agree in one thing namely in 
self-confidence, believing in their own infallibil- 
ity, from the highest State Church, downward, 
to the lowest sectarian. Each would give the 
seeker advice according to his own ideas and 
doctrines ; but what the one considers right, 
the other would regard as wrong. Besides, 
how many are there who really desire to do 
what is right in all simplicity of heart, and to 
do it with that self denial which Christ has 
so often proclaimed as indispensable? 

Most people do they not by far prefer to 
find means of avoiding what is right, by a 
thousand artifices, or else those calling them- 
selves " saints " or " enlightened true Chris- 
tians" see often everything shrouded in a 
mantle of sin ? They take from the young all 
their innocent joys and pleasures in life. 
Again, those of maturer age, they would de- 
prive to earnest searchers the liberty of seek- 
ing and obtaining greater breadth of thought, 
than what they consider necessary for them- 
selves. Even from old age too they would fain 
take all that charms and gladdens the mind ; 



SPIRITISM. 93 

yes, even children they would deprive of their 
greatest privilege, that of entering upon life 
with joyful, innocent trustfulness. They bid 
them feel as if they were toiling beneath an 
oppressive, overwhelming burden of sin, which 
the poor child thinks he can never be deliv- 
ered from. 

A person brought up with such ideas has 
told me how when he was only nine years old, 
he used to kneel down wringing his hands in 
despair thinking of his great sinfulness, fear- 
ing he could never escape the everlasting 
torments of hell. 

One might be inclined to think that this 
child was vicious, bad — by no means ! he 
was the most affectionate, devoted, conscien- 
tious child one can imagine ; the fact was he 
had simply been brought up in " the true 
faith," and was taught from the beginning 
that he was doomed to everlasting damnation, 
if he did not in every way cling to the doc- 
trines taught. 

When the boy had grown to be a lad, and 
God had developed in his mind a craving for 



94 SPIRITISM. 

knowledge, into what a deadly conflict was he 
not led, ere he could distinguish between 
what was truly bad, or truly good ! How 
long it was ere he plainly saw, that it was not 
enough for the salvation of his soul only to 
cry Lord ! Lord ! but that it was necessary 
above all to prove by every action, his faith 
in the true Lord. He had to find out that 
it was not enough to look upon every inno- 
cent amusement as sinful, to put on a gloomy 
appearance, which only cold uncharitable 
thoughts can call forth, or to brand one's 
neighbor as "child of the devil," because 
he gladly accepts the good gifts of God, with a 
grateful, cheerful heart. No, it is certainly 
not by accepting these erroneous ideas as pre- 
cepts, that we approach God by the shortest 
road. Oh, how many conflicts are not needed 
before we can see plainly through this terrible 
mist! 

To whom, for instance, amongst his fellow- 
creatures could this young man have gone 
for help? At all the different Church doors 
where he might have chosen to knock he 



SPIRITISM. 95 

would have received from the guardian but 
one answer : " You must believe all that we 
teach, or you had better go your way." 

The poor despairing soul may than easily 
look for help in quite another quarter, but 
how often is he not there met by an insolent, 
affected, or self-complacent assertion from 
those who declare that " there is no God ; that 
no immortal spirit dwells within us ; that we 
human beings are the best and highest of 
everything which exists ; that we have only 
ourselves to look up to. We are indeed our 
own Saviours ! " 

And then he stands just as helpless as be- 
fore. He feels as if all that had been 
asserted were untrue, as if no help existed ! 

Well, my reader, what do you think he 
most needs at such a moment ? Is it not the 
enlightenment which will help him to disen- 
tangle the falsehood which has become en- 
twined with the truth ? 

He needs to go to some spiritually inspired 
person who would speak to him the language 
of love as well as of truth. Such a one would 



96 SPIRITISM. 

say : " Do not despair, dear one ; do not be- 
lieve that your yearning for truth is inspired by 
your sinfulness, or that it is an abuse of your 
reason ! Again, do not believe that truth does 
not exist ; on the contrary, it is hidden every- 
where. Sometimes it shines forth like a 
glorious flame, at other times it appears like 
glowing embers ; whilst in some instances 
again it is, as much as possible, hid by the 
rags of arrogance and sin. This holy flame 
does never reveal itself in all its fulness. It 
shares, as one might say, the fate of the Holy 
Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Well-meaning but 
foolish hands have sought to preserve it from 
being injured or profaned. They have fenced 
it round, so that people cannot get to it. 
They certainly allow people to approach it, but 
never to touch it. If man had only permitted 
what is holy to guard itself, the sacred instinct 
which is innate within us would assuredly 
have been the sanctuary's best protection. 
But in order that such feelings may be called 
forth it is necessary that truth and holiness 
should appear in all their untarnished splen- 
dor. 



SPIRITISM. gy 

Look around you, my son ! see with your 
own eyes how truth beams forth everywhere, 
bearing witness to a power which can pierce 
all darkness. There is no church, no sect, no 
religious community where truth does not 
form the corner stone. The building may be 
embellished afterwards, perhaps to excess, or 
may receive an ugly and repulsive appearance, 
it rests, however, on a costly foundation stone 
in which is immured many a precious coin, 
current in the Kingdom of God. 

Amongst those again who deny God and 
His kingdom and erect pagan temples, there 
can also be found within their foundation 
stones — believe me — mixed with many false 
coins, some which are of the right sort. 
Amongst such I would reckon a righteous 
contempt for the everlasting voluminous 
talking and preaching among the so-called 
Christians, when it is but an empty show 
seldom followed by real good actions ; further, 
the indignation felt at seeing love, charity, the 
very essence of Christianity, so often left 
forgotten within the dead form which a mass 



9 8 SPIRITISM. 

of dogma have raised, like a true sepulchre 
where even that which had life must die. 

To this species of true coin belong also 
protestations against the intolerance which 
has arisen in the name of Christianity, as also 
blame pronounced at the unwillingness of 
the different Churches to endeavor by gentle- 
ness to remove the doubts which they them 
selves have by several of their teachings given 
rise to. 

One's sense of justice revolts against such 
great and numerous errors ! But, again, re- 
member that, reason, desiring to rectify such 
mistakes fails, often, by seeking to rear a 
temple to its own honor and glory. If God 
is left out, an idolatrous temple is built, 
which sooner or later must be thrown down. 
Still, the foundation stone itself was not 
altogether worthless. 

Another devotee longs to see man ennoble 
himself by trying to raise himself. He sees 
how much innate energy exists in the race, 
which is often dulled by doctrines teaching 
us, that " we ourselves require to do nothing 



SPIRITISM. 99 

if we merely have faith." The unenlightened 
thus believe that they have simply to concur 
in that oft misquoted text " The blood of 
Christ cleanseth us from all sin," and then 
piously fold their hands, and all will be well. 
But Christ has, by shedding His blood for us, 
given us His strength, and He has also laid 
upon us the bounden duty of consecrating our 
lives, as far as lies in our power, to a loving 
service for others while at the same time we 
must work incessantly at our own develop- 
ment and improvement. 

This desire to serve mankind by heighten- 
ing in each individual the feeling of personal 
responsibility, lies concealed like a valuable 
coin within the foundation stone, which the 
materialists or non-believers of the present 
day have laid, but upon which they have after- 
wards erected a temple of Self -worship. 

In a word : despair not, thou searching 
spirit. Employ, on the contrary, all thy 
strength, all thy mind in seeking after the 
Kingdom of God with all thy heart, and 
everything else shall come to thee, even guid- 



100 SPIRITISM. 

ance in the most difficult relations of life and 
during the most cruel sufferings. 

Thus speaks one who has received spirit- 
ual help and guidance. 

I will now give some few examples, which 
in course of years have come within my own 
personal experience, and for the truth of 
which I can vouch. 

Our first little circle had of course gradually 
increased and through many who joined it we 
gained new experiences, and new overwhelm- 
ing conviction. So as not to be again obliged 
to interrupt the flow of the narrative by 
assurances that everything happened as relat- 
ed. I will now repeat once for all that every- 
thing which I relate in this book is absolutely 
true, and has occurred before my own eyes. 
Besides, truth speaks its own peculiar lan- 
guage, and therefore I rely on being fully 
believed. 

I will commence by narrating an incident 
of a particularly touching nature. 

It happened one evening when there were 



SPIRITISM. IOi 

only three of us together. Amongst the 
number was one whose circumstances in life 
were quite unknown to us. We were some- 
how particularly animated and joyous that 
evening, as we occupied ourselves with " au- 
tomatic writing." The first thing that was 
written was : " wait a little, just for a few mo- 
ments." These words rather distressed us, as 
we feared that perhaps we had been in too 
gay a mood to receive any spiritual commu- 
nication. But then the following was written. 

" No harm in a little fun ; there is a time 
for everything. Now, however, is time to be 
more serious, but with a fresh, wholesome 
mind." 

After this followed some beautiful descrip- 
tions of various spirit-worlds, as well as some 
good advice. Then, after a pause, the pen 
was suddenly guided in the medium's hand in 
quite a new, strange manner. It jumped 
high up from the paper and down again ; an 
attempt was made to write but unsuccessfully. 
All these movements were so violent, so 
angular — yes, almost ridiculous — that the 



102 SPIRITISM. 

medium could not resist laughing and even 
saying : " this must be a funny kind of spirit 
who wants to make sport of us." 

I got, on the contrary, quite a different 
impression ; namely that it was some poor 
unhappy spirit, who wished to make his 
presence known by writing but who found 
great difficulty in the attempt. I mentioned 
this, and as my feeling about it was very 
strong, I begged the other two to join with 
me in prayer, so that in case my presentiment 
were right, this poor spirit might receive suf- 
ficient strength to communicate with us and 
tell us what he seemed anxious to divulge- 
After this, the movements became consider 
ably calmer, but still it was only with the 
greatest difficulty that the following was 
written. 

" I cannot get peace or calm myself, un- 
happy as I am. Alas, that I left the world 
too soon .... It is dark here, let this be a 
warning to all, not to follow my example .... 
but I know that God is good, and forgives 
I hear shot after shot .... suffer anguish 



SPIRITISM. IQ 3 

.... sometimes peace hope of it but 

much labor .... pray for me." 

Then followed a name. The medium did 
not know it and wondered who the poor 
unhappy spirit could be. I, on the other 
hand, recognized the name, and knew that it 
belonged to a person who, in a moment of 
despair, had committed suicide. 

This communication may perhaps appear 
very trivial to many, but let us examine 
it. 

In the first place it bears evidence and is a 
proof that the dead can communicate with us 
for the unfortunate spirit proved his identity 
not only by signing his name, but also by 
mentioning the manner of his death. He 
understood, evidently, that "he left too soon." 
How often have not people speculated about 
the feelings and experiences felt by a person 
who committed sufcide, but certainly few have 
imagined what is described here. "It is dark 

here let this be a warning to many, not to 

follow my example but I know God is 

good and forgives. . . I hear shot after shot 



I0 4 SPIRITISM. 

. . . anguish . . . but sometimes peace . . . hope 
of it . . . but much labor . . . pray for me." 

How much may not these lines teach us ! 
How easily can we not picture to ourselves 
the fearful darkness which already in itself 
must be a dreadful punishment to the 
unhappy spirit, who wished to escape the 
dimness of earth which had already clouded 
his brain. Instead of light and repose, which 
he probably hoped to find on the other side 
of the grave, he finds, instead, greater darkness 
and greater anguish ! The disastrous shot 
sounds over and over again in his ears, but the 
remembrance of his sufferings is not weak- 
ened. Spiritual anguish is added to the past 
mortal suffering. It must have been dreadful 
to find that the anguish he had gone through 
on earth caused, as it were, only wounds on 
the surface ; while now, by his own fault, they 
were changed into wounds which penetrated 
to the innermost depths of his being. 

This is, indeed, a sad picture of the awaken- 
ing in a future life of a poor sinful human 
spirit ; but for minds which are able to grasp 



SPIRITISM. 105 

the whole subject, it possesses luminous points 
so beautiful that they can only proceed from 
a divine source. Within this suffering heart 
is still to be found that divine, eternal spark, 
which can never be quenched, because it is 
composed of purest love. This spark flashes 
out its light in the warning given to all, " not 
to follow his example." Evidence is also 
given that his soul has been enlightened by 
the Holy Ghost, as he is enabled to feel and 
say that he knows : " God is good and for- 
gives " — and that his suffering cannot be 
everlasting, for he has moments of peace and 
hope ! 

He is even aware that work awaits him — 
much work — which, through God's grace, will 
raise and develop his spirit, and finally de- 
liver him from the bonds of darkness. He 
teaches us, too, that we can by our prayers help 
and support the spirits who are still dwelling 
in darkness, and need strengthening through 
the might of our love. 

These lines, read by the light of faith and 
understood through the gift of intuition, open 



Io6 SPIRITISM. 

a wide field of revelation to the human mind 
But the narrative gains a deeper, and if I may 
so say, a more wonderfully practical signifi- 
cance, when I now add the following fact, 
that among us there was one, who, quite un- 
known to the others, harbored thoughts of 
committing suicide. He was so firmly 
determined to carry out this intention, that 
he only waited to fix the day and hour, till 
he should have decided upon the way and 
manner least painful to himself and which 
would also cause the least inconvenience and 
trouble to his relations. 

If spiritualism had not led to more than 
this one result, of having saved him from 
carrying out his intention by giving this 
timely warning, it would indeed be enough to 
merit the attention of all serious minds. 

This happened in Paris. As we were all 
in the habit of visiting the Madeleine Church 
in our lesiure moments, we often felt ourselves 
prompted whilst there — sometimes the one, 
sometimes the other — to pray with all our 
heart for the unfortunate but loving spirit, 



SPIRITISM. 107 

who had begged for our prayers. But for a 
long time we heard nothing of him. 

Then one day he came quite unexpectedly. 
We recognized him by the difficulty he had 
in writing, although it was easier for him than 
the first time. He only wrote these lines : 

" I must tell you, how grateful I am . . . how 

rejoiced (probably because we had prayed 

for him) I feel it easier now... Oh! if I had 
had a friend ... how different life would have 
been ! " 

Yes, here again is a significant word, full 
of meaning, "if I had had a friend!" 

And how many are there who have a friend 
on earth ? What good might not a true, real 
friend do ? Instead of beguiling a comrade 
into all sorts of sins and follies which degrade 
him and stifle his better and higher nature, a 
real friend might endeavor to direct his 
mind to higher and nobler aims. Well would 
it be indeed if " comrades," oftener than is 
the case, would perceive and take to heart 
the weight and responsibility of the influence 
which the one exercises over the other I 



108 SPIRITISM. 

Well would it be if they would learn to under- 
stand that the burden of responsibility does not 
always weigh heaviest upon the one who has 
fallen a sacrifice to mutual transgressions. 

I will not, however, go further into a subject 
which is in itself sufficient to fill volumes, but 
conclude this narrative instead with an 
account of the last communication I received 
from the once unhappy spirit. 

In order to understand this, I must mention 
that the first time he made himself known to 
us, he interspersed some words, in what he 
then wrote, expressing a wish that the 
contents of the communication should not be 
made known, particularly to' his nearest rel- 
atives. But since I had reason to hope that 
he was no longer unhappy, it seemed to me 
desirable to obtain permission to relate this 
most remarkable occurrence. I begged him 
therefore, if possible, to give me an answer 
and let me know if my conjecture were cor- 
rect, and if I was free to publish what had 
happened. To this I received the following 
reply : 



SPIRITISM. IO g 

" You may, you may ! Your heart under- 
stood well what I meant. Whilst I was still 
confined there, whither my own fault had 
brought me, wished no one to know of my 
sufferings. But now that I have, through the 
mercy of God and the atoning blood of Christ, 
been released and allowed to enter spheres 
where my spirit exults in gladness — now you 
may tell the whole world of the sad fate which 
awaits the one who impatiently snaps asunder 
the cords of life, and does not endure in faith 6 
the sufferings of earth. Oh ! if man would 
hearken to the inner warning voice, and not 
to the instigations of impatient presumption 
or despair ! If he would only try to under- 
stand properly God's holy word, sent to 
enlighten him, then the world would soon be 
transformed into a Kingdom of God — then 
would he be led into paths similar to those 
that are here. I am so happy now, for I 
understands Thanks for your intercessions ! 
they helped me. God bless you ! " 

This was signed by his name. 

Another time when we were together, a 



no SPIRITISM, 

young man was with us who was much inter- 
ested in these questions, but was almost 
unknown to us. We had no knowledge of 
his family matters, his ideas or way of life- 
That evening the medium, wrote the follow- 
ing, which seemed to us at the time very ob- 
scure but afterwards was fully explained. 

The communication ran thus : " Rejoice 
that you have become the means of guiding 
the ship out of the breakers. In the fore 
ground a rock is visible on a loose, bad 
foundation, which threatens, however, to crush 
the ship which is hurrying full sail towards 
the danger. See, the rock recedes ! — the ship 
sails onward — the storm abates. — Happiness 
becomes the steersman —Faith, the captain." 
" Take heed ! Mark ! if anything offends 
thee, cut it off. Better a wound in the heart 
than in the conscience ! " 

As this was written in a language unknown 
to the young stranger, the injunction was 
added : " Translate immediately ; the youth 
knows whom it concerns." 

Of course we translated these lines, but 



SPIRITISM. 1 1 1 

did not receive any explanation from him at 
the time. 

Some time after this we were again assem- 
bled, when a spirit who had often revealed 
himself, in grand and to us particularly 
beneficial, communications, wrote thus : 

" My friends, the time draws nearer and 
nearer when I must, to a certain extent, 
influence your lives ; but I cannot do so ere 
the youth has broken his bonds and the poor 
fettered bird has escaped from its cage. It 
was impossible for me to draw nearer to you, 
before the past was abandoned. The wings 
which for a time have been clipped by a care- 
ful hand, have grown, and the poor bird can 
now, with recovered strength, recommence 
life and collect material for a new nest, where 
love and happiness will reign. See, the white 
wings had been soiled, but the heart's blood 
has washed them clean again. Whate'er one 
does in life — tears of repentance will ever 
cleanse the most spotted garment and make 
it white again, but the heart's blood purifies 
for the higher life, — it makes the wedding 



1 1 2 SPIRITISM. 

garment ready. Keep yourselves prepared, 
and always ready to receive messages from 
above ! God bless you all ! " That evening 
there was one amongst us, who fancied he 
had been just a wee bit forgotten by the 
spirits during the last communications, and 
wondered within himself at this. Then was 
added : 

" Do not believe yourself forgotten ! No, 
never ! — But the youth has needed us for the 
completion of his life's work." 

The feelings of our young friend became 
now so itensified, that they welled over. 
Deeply moved he there and then confessed 
to us how he had been led into a great temp- 
tation, how he even had given way to it — 
how unhappy he had felt afterwards — how 
impossible it seemed to him to break the ties 
which he in reality abhorred ; also how his at- 
tention had been drawn by the first message 
to the necessity of saving himself from those 
terrible rocks and cliffs which threatened to 
destroy his life's bark. After the first com- 
munication he had, so to say, stayed his 



SPIRITISM. H3 

course, but how should he be able in future 
to avoid being further borne along by the 
current he had once entered, which slowly 
brought him towards ruin and perdition ? 
Gentle tappings were now heard ; the 
medium received a new communication in 
which the youth was told to write a letter, 
and post it immediately. It would then 
arrive just at the right moment, and occasion' 
the miracle which seemed to him impossible. 
He was most willing to follow this advice, 
but new difficulties arose. What could he 
write in order to bring about such a result ? 
" We will write for you," the spirits promised. 
He then sat down and wrote just what came 
first into his head. When he had finished 
the letter he went and posted it himself. On 
his return he looked quite changed and 
said : " I don't know how it will be managed, 
but I feel as if an intolerable burden had 
been lifted from my heart." The letter — 
chiefly by arriving just at the right moment 
— became the means of freeing the young man 
without further difficulty from a most ava- 



114 SPIRITISM. 

ricious and frivolous person. He could hardly 
realize that so great a mercy had befallen 
him ! 

It was truly touching to see his deep and 
heartfelt gratitude, as well as his grief and re- 
pentance at having ever succumbed to temp- 
tation. 

Soon after we received the following 
communication : 

(First of all many hearts were drawn and 
then was written) : 

" It is the heart which must penetrate all 
things. The heart is the home of blessedness 
on earth, it is the only abode fit to contain 
the divine spark ! This spark which by the 
mercy of God has been left in the heart of 
man like a star to guide him upwards, be- 
comes, when misused, a devastating fire which 
nothing can quench. But true light — the 
consciousness of what is right — the knowledge 
of the loss of the treasure, may in time save, 
become the means of protecting at the last 
moment the costliest treasure of the heart — 
purity. There is the safeguard against de- 



SPIRITISM. 1 1 5 

truction. God makes his presence felt again 
and again in order to protect what is his 
own. See that He does not come in vain i 
Keep His habitation in readiness pure / 
His peace be with you ! 

For some time, however, our young friend 
had to overcome many difficulties and go 
through many conflicts. Just when he was 
trying to escape from all kinds of evil 
nfluences, he was misunderstood by his 
nearest relatives. Troubles and annoyances 
ensued, so that he became ill and nervous at 
last ; at times it seemed as if he must suc- 
cumb altogether worried by trials of every 
description. He was then fortunately vouch- 
safed a comforting message in which he was 
told that in a week matters would begin to 
improve : " for sorrow has no lasting abode 
in the human heart, least of all when we act 
in such a manner that conscience has nothing 
to reproach us with." 

I will conclude this narrative by saying 
that within a week he obtained perfect peace, 
of mind and by using the remedies which the 



n6 SPIRITISM. 

spirits indicated, his nervous system was 
strengthened and he was restored to health. 
This was the reward for having faithfully 
followed the spiritual advice he had received. 
On another occasion there was one amongst 
us who was deeply concerned and anxious on 
behalf of a beloved child who she thought 
was at sea in a raging storm. She, the 
poor mother, could not sleep that night 
for anxiety. But in the silence of the night 
she heard those dear and welcome raps, which 
only those can appreciate who have heard 
them in the bitter hour of Jieed and suffering, 
and know that they indicate the presence of 
some invisible and beloved spirits who come 
to offer comfort and consolation to the 
afflicted heart. 





When she took the pen these few words 
merely were written. " Be at rest, your son 
is not at sea, there is no cause for anxiety ! " 



SPIRITISM. ii 7 

Quietly, trustingly she could now sleep, and 
after some time she received news that the 
storm had been so terrific that the steamer 
had been compelled to remain in harbor and 
await more favorable weather. 

I will now make an exception and relate 
something which I have not personally wit- 
nessed, but which I have still the strongest 
reasons for believing to be perfectly true. 

A lady of high rank — from Bavaria 
I think — was travelling, some years ago, 
through Venice. She was a believing spirit- 
ist and herself a medium. One day this 
message was given to her : " Tend the 
wounded dove ! " 

She did not in the least understand these 
mysterious words, but they were repeated the 
following day as well as the day after. 
Nothing particular happened and no explana- 
tion was given during the next two days. 

On the third day, she went to a reception 
at the house of an Italian Princess. While 
there she heard a lively conversation going 
on, interspersed with a good deal of gossip ; 



1 1 8 SPIRITISM. 

at last some one exclaimed : " Well, have you 
heard any more about the Princess who is ly- 
ing ill at the hotel, abandoned by every one ? " 
The attention of the Bavarian lady was 
aroused and intuitively she inquired of whom 
they were speaking ? Ah ! Jiad she not 

heard the story ? Princess had lately left 

her husband for love of a young and well- 
known statesman, who had for some time 
been entreating her to take this step. He 
loved her ! — adored her ! — could no longer 
live without her, etc. etc. etc. ! 

He had carried on a flirtation with her for 
years, had fascinated her more and more, 
while falling deeper and deeper in love him- 
self (in his fashion !) and the end was that the 
Princess after much trouble of mind, much 
hesitation and scandal, had divorced from her 
husband, and fled with the young nobleman 
to Venice, where the hymeneal knot was to 
be tied. But after they had been there some 
time he changed his mind. He now not 
only felt that he was able, but he discovered 
also that he was quite willing, on account of 



SPIRITISM. 119 

great personal and political interests, to live 
without her ! Before leaving her, he offered 
the once wealthy Princess a sum of money 
which should secure her from actual want, 
but she was not one to allow herself to be in- 
sulted in such a manner, by the man who had 
wrecked her whole life, so she refused to 
accept it. This did not prevent him, however, 
from leaving her in pecuniary distress and 
abandoned to despair. 

Her means were soon quite exhausted. 
She moved from her beautiful rooms at the 
hotel to worse and still worse, until at last she 
landed in an attic. There she was lying 
now, forsaken by everyone and dangerously 
ill with brain fever, but — in the opinion of 
society — only enduring the punishment she 
had richly deserved. They had all known 
her in her palmy days, but — who would know 
her now ? 

Then the words " tend the wounded dove" 
rang in the spiritualist's ears. With a heart 
filled with gratitude at having received such 
a mission, she betook herself in silence to her 



! 20 SPIRITISM. 

suffering unknown sister. She found her on 
a wretched bed in an attic, delirious and al- 
most dying, with no one to nurse her or % 
alleviate her sufferings. But He, who 
watches over the smallest sparrow, as well 
as over each one of His children, however 
unworthy they may be of a Father's love, He 
had seen the sufferer's need, He had pro- 
claimed to one of His servants that her help 
was needed. He had certainly tested her 
faith by the above mentioned obscure words. 
He had tried her heart, and found it worthy 
of the charge He intended for her. She 
arrived also just in time, first to call a doctor 
and then to nurse the sick woman with lov- 
ing care, and by her untiring devotion she was 
the means of saving her life. 

I was told all this at Venice shortly after 
the event occurred, and, as I have said before, 
I have every reason for believing that it 
happened just as I have described, more es- 
pecially as I have myself experienced some- 
thing similar. 

I was bidden, namely, to accept an invitation 



SPIRITISM. I2 i 

to a family whom I did not generally visit ; I 
was spiritually told that my presence was 
wanted and that I should meet there a person 
who needed me. This prediction was after- 
wards fully verified, and great blessings ensued 
through my having received and obeyed the 
summons. 

I could relate many more experiences of 
this kind but the time has not yet come. 

Some of them are of such an elevated 
nature and apparently so supernatural, lying 
as they actually do, entirely beyond the range 
of everyday life, that few minds are as yet 
sufficiently advanced to be able to hear of or 
assert as true, such phenomena without feeling 
almost confounded. One meets with many 
similar accounts in the Bible, but unbelievers 
doubt them, and the so-called believers shake 
their heads and say : " Ah, that was then, 
but such things don't happen now." 

I shall therefore refrain from speaking about 
them at present, but perhaps at some future 
time I may return to these subjects when 
they have come into more general notice, and 



122 SPIRITISM. 

people have more courage in acknowledging 
their own experiences in this line. In 
conclusion, however, I will relate one more 
remarkable occurrence, for the truth of which 
I can vouch. 

In the little circle of persons wjio implic- 
itly believed in the truths of spiritualism, and 
frequently met at my house, there was one 
who had become both a writing and drawing 
medium. This person, through a chain of 
unexpected circumstances, found herself for 
a time in great pecuniary straits, not through 
any fault of her own, but, as may happen to 
any of us, in consequence of some sudden 
and quite unexpected expenses. This person 
had a good fixed income which was paid quar- 
terly, so that by great economy she might soon 
have got over this temporary embarrass- 
ment, when another expense, impossible to 
have foreseen occurred. The lady of whom 
I am speaking had only been a short time at 
the place where she was, and had made no 
arrangements for meeting difficulties of this 
sort which she had never anticipated. Quite 



SPIRITISM. I2 3 

unaccustomed to such a position — timid and 
reserved by nature — she did not know what 
to do or how to manage. Her difficulties 
increased every day, the next quarter was not 
due within six weeks, what was to be done ? 
She was choked by tears at the very thought 
of being obliged to speak to some friend! 
Besides the friends who would almost have 
smiled at her trouble and been able to assist 
her without the least inconvenience to them- 
selves, she felt she could not address herself to, 
and those on the other hand to whom she 
might perhaps have whispered a word, they, 
were again in such circumstances that most 
likely they could not have helped her without 
embarrassment to themselves. 







What did she do then? she turned to God 
and to her invisible friends ; to them alone 
she confided her troubles. The spiritually 
given answer was re-assuring but seemed to 
her almost incomprehensible. It ran thus : 



124 SPIRITISM. 

" Do not be anxious, all will be well." 
Day after day passed — her funds diminished; 
soon they would be completely gone, but 
the answer never varied from those invisible 
" beloved ones ; " it was always the same. 

" Be calm, keep your mind easy, — it is all 
right, no cause for anxiety," and more in the 
same strain. 






Her purse at last was nearly quite empty. 
Still she could not bring herself to speak to 
any earthly friend, unused as she was to find 
herself in such a situation. No, those dear 
spirit friends were the only ones who knew 
of her anguish besides God, to whom she 
never failed to confide all joy as well as sorrow. 

When no change came, the thought struck 
her that perhaps her invisible guides, released 
as they were from all earthly anxieties, had so 
entirely forgotten them, as to be unable to 
enter into the nature of trouble. " Oh, we 
understand very well," they wrote, " believe in 



SPIRITISM. 125 

us : you can no longer doubt, when the light 
of truth approaches nearer and nearer. You 
have not done wrong to confide in us. Only 
follow our advice always. Do all that we 
wish, just try to be calm, for all will be well. 
— To-morrow the solution will come of the 
enigmas with which we have surrounded 
you. That will be a proof you can depend 
upon, afterwards you will receive the one 
after the other. The time of trouble has 
passed. God will now give you joy, and 
peace in heart and soul and mind, — we rejoice 
at it!" 

Later in the evening she drew some light 
strokes on a paper, some sort of outline — but 
tired and unhappy as she was, they appeared 
to her quite unintelligible. 

The next morning she was awakened by 
the servant coming in and asking her to 
sign a receipt for a registered letter which had 
just arrived. Her heart beat ! could it pos- 
sibly contain money? Ah, no, — that was 
impossible — she did not expect money from 
anywhere just then. All hope vanished when 



126 SPIRITISM. 

she saw that the letter came from America, 
where she had not a single correspondent. 

She opened it, however, and found that it 
contained rather a large sum of money in- 
tended for her. One might call this quite a 
miracle — but it could be explained neverthe- 
less, although in a very unexpected and 
singular fashion. Countless forgotten links 
had indeed formed themselves into a chain 
which could now, like the hidden cable under 
the Atlantic, convey help at the right moment 
from America to Europe. 

Of course it can be said : " but it happened 
quite naturally after all!" Yes— if one 
considers as quite natural that sundered links 
should just at the right moment have formed a 
chain, and that such an event should take 
place just according to spiritual prediction, 
but quite contrary to all human probability. 
Of course / think it natural, but it would 
rather surprise me if those consider it so who 
do not believe in the active influence of the 
spiritual world around us. What a number 
of links had not been required for forming 



SPIRITISM. I2 7 

the long chain which finally led to such a 
result ! 

The strange fulfilment of this foretold 
event will appear still more wonderful when 
I add, that the drawing which had been made 
the previous evening, and which had then 
seemed so unintelligible to our friend, proved 
to be on a closer inspection, and after the 
arrival of the letter had facilitated the 
discovery, a slight sketch of the map of 
America on the one side, and France on the 
other side, of the Atlantic. Across the ocean 
had been drawn a thin line from Paris to 
New York and even further on to a little 
spot marked in pencil, which was evidently 
intended to represent a small town beyond 
the latter city. When she had made out the 
sketch so far, our friend wondered if it were 
possible that the dot on the map drawn in 
this spiritistic fashion could be meant to indi- 
cate the little town, the postmark of which the 
letter bore. Imagine her surprise when she 
found, that it lay just in the direction and at 
the distance from New York represented by 
the dot on the map I 



128 SPIRITISM. 

Now that I have come so far, my pen stops 
involuntarily, and I ask myself, what will the 
general public think of what I have written ? 
Will the sceptic find reason to abandon his 
doubts ? Will the scornful smile on the lips 
of the scoffer be changed into a more serious 
and thoughtful expression? Will the ig- 
norant perceive the value of first acquiring 
knowledge of a subject, before expressing an 
opinion ? Will he who believes himself to be 
a true Christian, but is full of prejudices, be 
willing to understand that others can meet 
with experiences which he has never been 
able even to imagine ? And lastly, will that 
which I have written make any impression 
upon those who declare that communion 
with the spiritual world is a sin, forbidden in 
the Holy Scriptures ? These latter are perhaps 
the most difficult to convince, for they only 
read, as it were, every other line in the Holy 
Scriptures, or only those texts which suit their 
way of thinking. They understand that 
Saul was wrong in consulting the woman of 
Endor, but do they pay any attention to the 



SPIRITISM. I2 9 

fact that he was right when he turned for 
spiritual information to the men of God and 
the prophets, or listened to the revelations 
from God, which — as is distinctly stated in 
Scripture — were sometimes communicated to 
him " in dreams or through Urim or through 
the prophets." (I. Sam. xxiii. 6.) 

And yet, why should I not believe' that 
some true and earnest words can have a 
certain influence ? I have myself doubted, 
denied the possibility of a connection 
with the spiritual world — yes, no one perhaps 
could have been more hard to convince than 
I, but when the wonderful truths came and 
knocked at the doors of my understanding 
and my heart, then they opened suddenly of 
themselves ! 

Since then a new development has com- 
menced for me, new views have unfolded 
themselves — views which most assuredly have 
advanced me on the road which leads up- 
wards, from earth to the realms of glory. 
Since then everything has appeared to me in 
a new and brighter light. The field of useful 



130 SPIRITISM. 

action has extended and every-day life has 
become easier and happier. I see now my 
neighbor's faults with other eyes, and judge 
his actions with other feelings. The scales, 
as it were, have fallen from my eyes ! Love, 
forbearance, compassion, have come like good 
spirits and chased away feelings which 
formerly did not appear to me so reprehensible, 
but were nevertheless very far from being 
truly Christian. 

How harshly could I not then judge one 
who had sinned ! How difficult it was then, 
for me to try and find excuses for one who 
had fallen ! Now, on the contrary, there is 
no other feeling in my heart than one of deep 
and tender compassion for all those who like 
■ the prodigal son have strayed from their 
Father's home. 

All the crimes, faults and shortcomings of 
mankind, I now ascribe to lack of development, 
which is always in proportion to the distance 
which man places between himself and his 
heavenly Father.. Fortunately it depends 
upon his own free will to reknit the tie he has 



SPIRITISM. 1 3 1 

himself sundered — also by free will to rescue 
the broken communion by listening to the 
lovins: voice which ever calls him back. The 
more he resists this ever-warning and exhort- 
ing voice, the more sinful he becomes, and in 
consequence he has greater need to be 
surrounded by the love and kindness of his 
fellow creatures, and above all by earnest 
prayers which work in silence such wondrous 
miracles. 

After I had myself seen so many great 
and blessed results through communion with 
the spiritual world, it seemed to me almost a 
duty to lay before the public such evidence 
of spirit-communion as might in some meas- 
ure help to refute many thoughtless and 
sometimes even presumptuous assertions, 
which are intended to convince people, 
partly that they have no immortal soul, 
partly that- all the spiritistic phenomena 
recorded of late years, have been either one 
series of deceptions, or at the best delusion ! 
Finally I desire to refute the assertion which 
some well-intentioned persons make when 



132 SPIRITISM. 

they declare that all communion with * the 
spiritual world which surrounds us is sinful 
and blamable. 

The exaggeration in each one of these 
assertions ought plainly enough to warn all 
thoughtful persons from giving them their 
full approval. But this is not always the 
case. It were well if this book might lead 
to more earnest investigations and to a 
greater desire to come nearer the truth with 
regard to such an all important subject. It 
were sweet indeed if I dared hope that this 
little work might benefit and gladden those 
who in this country meditate on these topics 
in their hearts, but hardly dare acknowledge 
even to themselves, far less to others, that 
something new, something wonderful, is stir- 
ring about and within them ! 

Ay, through the whole world goes a thrill, 
a feeling as if something new, something 
hitherto unexperienced, is approaching which 
makes the sensitive heart tremble for joy. 
May be it is something resembling what was 
felt when ages ago the dove returned to the 



SPIRITISM. 133 

ark with the olive leaf, bearing witness that 
the deluge had reached its height, and that 
earth was rising again from out the depths of 
sin, embellished and glorified ! 

To all those who feel the approach of a new 
era, I would call and say : It is true — it is in- 
deed. What the outer senses cannot per- 
ceive your spirit feels. Earthly speech and 
earthly feelings are insufficient to realize such 
celestial intuitions, but believe in the words of 
Christ — He says : 

" I will pray the Father, and He shall give 
you another Comforter, that He may abide 
with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, 
whom the world cannot receive, because it 
seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye 
know him, for he dwelleth with you, and 
shall be in you." (John xiv. 16, 17). These 
words could not be better interpreted than is 
done by our own S wedish writer, Rev. Melin. 
Thus the explanation runs : " The Holy 
Spirit, the Spirit of truth which the world can- 
not receive because it neither perceives nor 
knows him, but ye know him, because he 



134 SPIRITISM. 

dwells with you, and shall be in you, that is 
to say, you shall know him through your own 
inward experiences, for the Spirit of God 
bears witness to his own presence, in the heart 
of the believer, whilst on the contrary the im- 
penitent world cannot receive Him, because it 
lacks faith, and has lost in consequence the 
power of perceiving with the heart, and being 
able to understand spiritually the nature and 
workings of the Holy Spirit." 

Therefore, when to you the holy presence 
is revealed, when the promise is realized, do 
not fear ! Be not afraid ! Pray on the con- 
trary that when the Lord opens your spiritual 
sight and perceptions, that you may not turn 
away from the blessing ; remember these 
divine words : 

" If any man hear my voice and open the 
door, I will come in to him." 

And now, dear Reader, when I am going to 
conclude this book, I feel it but due to myself 
and to you to express my deep, earnest regret 
at not having; been able in a higher and more 
satisfactory way to plead the cause of so great 



SPIRITISM. 135 

and lofty a subject. This time it has, however, 
only been my intention to throw some light 
on what is generally understood by the name 
of " spiritism." I have tried to show what 
comfort and consolation can be derived from 
sacred spiritual communion, and I have also 
indicated the dangers of bad or frivolous com- 
munications with spirits. But I have scarcely 
touched on the higher and more sublime in- 
fluence which true " spiritualism " carrries 
with it. That is a subject of such vast impor- 
tance, that I should like to return to it an- 
other time, but then the reader must be 
prepared to follow me to the boundless, 
beautiful and exceedingly instructive regions 
of visions and revelatio>7is. Perhaps there 
will not be so many who care to follow me 
into those lofty regions, but with regard to 
those who do come, I may say with Thomas 
a Kempis : " Blessed are the ears which 
catch the whispers of the divine voice." 




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V. FREDERICK THE GREAT, V. & VI. 

VI. FREDERICK THE GREAT, VII. & VIII. 

Vll. MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS, I. 

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS, II. 

IX. CROMWELL, I. 

X. CROMWELL, II. 



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TOPICS OF THE TIMES 



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